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When All You Can Do is Laugh it Off

  • Kelly Givens What topic related to Christianity, faith, and the Bible is trending online and in social media today?
  • Updated Mar 20, 2014

Ever wish you could wave a magic wand and make those things that annoy you most disappear? Jen Hatmaker has us laughing (as always) with her latest post, “Some Things I Wish Would Go Away.” Jen nails it for parents everywhere as she laments her daughter’s love for Frozen’s hit song “Let it Go” (just how many times can one child sing a song?), and her musings on just how horrible middle school can be:

I’ve now been in middle school four times and I have two delightful more trips through this quagmire of awkwardness. Hey Middle School Teachers, YOU DESERVE FORTY MILLION DOLLARS A YEAR. Bless it all. These children are all possessed. Reader, tell me there is no worse three-year period in the human experience than 6th-8th grade. It was unquestionably my worst stretch, and now I have one survivor, two soldiers in its trenches, and two more in the innocent, precious world of elementary school still.

Yes, middle school was definitely the worst. Amen sister.

I sometimes forget that God has given us laughter as a gift and that laughing off frustrating things is often the best thing we can do. In his post on laughter, Dr. Ray Pritchard writes:

It may surprise you to know that some of God’s greatest saints loved to laugh. Martin Luther said, “If you aren’t allowed to laugh in heaven, I don’t want to go there.” He also said, “If the earth is fit for laughter then surely heaven is filled with it. Heaven is the birthplace of laughter.” The great English preacher Charles Haddon Spurgeon laughed so much that when a parishioner re­proached him for using too much humor in his sermons, he replied, “If only you knew how much I held back!” C. S. Lewis used to say that his favorite sound in all the earth was hearty male laughter.

There’s a reason we love to laugh- it actually makes us feel better! Debbie Przybylski writes about the healing nature of laughter. “Did you know that laughter helps promote good health? A laugh can help: Lower your blood pressure, boost your immune system, improve your brain function, elevate your mood, reduce your stress, help you relax, and protect your heart… In Proverbs 17:22 the Bible says, "A cheerful heart is good medicine." In Nehemiah 8:10 we read, "for the joy of the Lord is your strength."  The Bible supports the fact that cheerfulness and joy promote good health.”

What are some things that used to bother you but now you can laugh about?

Kelly Givens is the editor of iBelieve.com.