Have A Good Laugh

You know how it is, when at times throughout any given day, some funny memory of long ago will pop into your mind and you begin to laugh? I have been caught laughing while walking by myself down the street.  What curious looks I get from passersby.  Haven’t you had that happen to you?

Just this week I noticed a woman wearing sandals; her toenails painted a bright red.  Memories came to my mind which brought on a loud chuckle of laughter.  The memory? Well, it was a particular morning when I was getting ready to leave the house.  I had decided to put on fresh coats of polish on both toe and finger nails.  That task being done I next took out my woman’s repair kit, placing before me an assortment of face creams, mascara, powder, and lipstick.  Of course, while doing this I saw my bedroom shoes and promptly stuck my feet in them.  I must have walked around for an hour before time to kick my bedroom slippers off.  Imagine my dismay when they wouldn’t come!

One of my all-time favorite memories, that still causes me to shake all over, takes me back to a time when I was fourteen or fifteen years old.  I was with my parents shopping in the Air Force Base Exchange in Honolulu, Hawaii where my father was stationed at the time.  The aisles were just below shoulder height so any adult-sized person could easily see all around the store.  I had been browsing when I saw my father standing rigid in the aisle staring motionless.

“Dad?”  I approached him.  “What are you looking at?”

“A grown man picking his nose,” he answered in monotone.

I followed his gaze and sure enough, there stood a man, forefinger stuck up his right nostril with much action going on.  I burst out laughing!  My Dad joined me.  We were both lost in our world of hilarity.  Mom came over but when we pointed out the object of our hysterics, she did not share the humor.  “You two need to behave,” she answered, probably somewhat embarrassed, although she managed a few chuckles when we got to the car.

There was also the time when, (I admit I was sixteen and should have had better sense), I decided to test whether or not one would really slip and fall after stepping on a banana peel.  I stood in our kitchen taking the peel off a banana.  Then, strategically placing it, slippery side down in the middle of the kitchen floor (linoleum!) I paced my steps and began my casual but staged walk across the floor.  After stepping on the banana peel, feet flying out from beneath me, landing me in a breathless heap stretched on the floor, my father’s face appeared in the air above me.  “If I hadn’t seen that with my own eyes,” he proceeded, “I would never have believed it.”  He meanders away, leaving me to catch my breath and join him in the other room where we, as we so often did, burst into bouts of great laughter.

Doesn’t laughing make you feel good all over?  I’m so glad that God created us with the ability to laugh; and because we know we’re created in His image, we know that He laughs, too.  Can’t you imagine the fish stories that Jesus and his disciples must have laughed about?

Did you know that laughter is a healthy thing to do?  “Laughter is a good medicine, but a crushed spirit can dry up the bones.”  Proverbs 17:22  God is the author of laughter.  I have a friend who once told me that she deliberately looks for at least one thing to laugh about everyday.

May you all enjoy a good bout of laughter today.  Think back to something funny.  Share the story.  Laugh.  God gave you the ability to do so and it’s great for your health!