Laughter
By Foy Valentine
Whatsoever things are…lovely…think on these things."
Philippians 4:8
What could be more lovely than a good belly laugh?
Even a nice little chuckle is not to be sneezed at.
And a good joke is better than a hundred jeremiads. You know, those organ recitals in which operations are enumerated, wrongs are recalled, and troubles are mournfully rehashed.
Not to labor the point unduly, consider the considerable benefits of mirth.
Humor, it seems to me, is God`s great gift to a species prone to failure, misery, depression, wrath, remorse, sickness, disease, gout, cataracts, the common cold, war, cruelty, cancer, poverty, pain, exploitation, prejudice, hunger, pride, failure, misery, abuse, torture, violence, and death. If you ask me, who could laugh in the face of such adversities, then I would like to ask you, who could keep his head above water at all without the life raft of laughter to cling to in all those wild waters?
Here, then, is a salute to laughter.
Laughter may well derive from our having been made in the likeness of God. He worked six days in creation, you know, and then washed his hands good and took the next day off. Sitting down he propped up his feet, surveyed his handiwork, and with a broad smile, allowed that it was good. Who knows but that he may have laughed out loud at the ludicrous hippopotamus, at the antics of the monkey, and at ha adam, the adam, hairless, teetering around on two legs, and naked as a jaybird?
And we can well imagine that God smiled at the light, at the dry land, at violets, at ripe peaches, at fleecy clouds, at the blue sky, at the fantastic fire he had kindled in the sun, at the splendor of the full moon rising, at the sunset, and at "the stars also" (Genesis 1:16).
Common folk wisdom would have us believe that a spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down. Actually, I can`t quite see it. Still the wise seer of Proverbs 17:22 allowed that "a merry heart doeth good like a medicine." The Psalmist has said that a body who loves righteousness and hates wickedness, that is, a person who has his moral head screwed on reasonably straight is anointed by the Lord "with the oil of gladness" (Psalms 45:7). The author of Hebrews had hid this word about "the oil of gladness" in his, or her, heart (Hebrews 1:9), right up front. Well-being, the peace that passes understanding, the smile that turns easily into laughter are "the oil of gladness" that is the natural corollary of righteousness.
It is always a good day for me when Warren Hultgren, my friend of fifty years, calls me long distance for a leisurely visit. He is fun. His disposition is sunny. He is consistently pleasant. He is upbeat. And I could never ever tell you how many of his stories, yarns, jokes, frivolities, artful exaggerations, and ludicrous little lies, we have, together, laughed at uproariously. Nowadays, I can be driving down the highway all by myself and still burst out laughing at one of his tales which he told me twenty years ago. That tale, I estimate has been worth a minimum of $50,000 to me.
My warm friendship of a lifetime shared with Charles Trentham had such a dimension. Just before he died recently in a terrible car accident, we had occasion to revel together in this tale: it seems that this young preacher was called to two churches on the same day. Not knowing which one to take, but being quite sure that he wanted out of where he was, he went to his old mentor, saying, "What shall I do? I just want, in my ministry, to be where God is. "The old pastor said. "That`s easy, son. Go where the money is. God is everywhere." I can still hear his deep, resonant, contagious laugh. (If you won`t tell anybody, I`ll tell you that I told that at his funeral; and I`m pretty sure he relished it again.)
My Texas Aggie brother, older by five years, and I often call each other long distance to share a small joke, a funny story, a nice turn of phrase, or, rarely, a new blockbuster of humor which simply will not wait until we with mutually advancing auditory challenges (that is French for deafness), can shout it at one another, face to face.
Another friend, Ross Coggins, lights up my whole life with his unique gift of seeing the funny side of things so that any conversation we can manage to have, in person, by phone, or in writing, is a benediction to me, a truly good word.
Laughter`s universal appeal is clearly seen in my friend Bruce McIver`s phenomenally popular Stories I Could Not Tell While I Was A Pastor, a funny book now in its twelfth printing and just now released, together with its sequel, Just As Long As I`m Riding Up Front, by Guideposts as their featured Spring promotion on a national and international scale.
You can understand why I feel compelled to rise up and call these people blessed. They have employed laughter to our mutual edification, made life`s rough places a little smoother, for a little while enabled us to soar above the rough terrain through which we have been stumbling, and obliterate for the moment the nagging pain, the miserable failures, and the everlasting thorns in the flesh which, if allowed to do so, would drain the juices of our souls, gnaw at our spirits, and consume us all.
So.
Smile. It beats frowning.
Chuckle. It beats grouching.
Laugh. It beats crying.
Laughter. Let`s celebrate it and thank God for it. It is a lovely thing.
