Laughter

I don’t want to get ‘preachy’. It is amazing to me that my time of worship on Sunday mornings is 9 times out of 10 (or maybe more like 99 times out of 100) just what the doctor ordered for the start of a great week. I drop the boys off at Sunday School and then I walk into the sanctuary and despite the hundreds of people, it really feels like it is just me and God. I leave worship refreshed.

Today’s sermon wasn’t *about* laughter, it was about letting God take your hand and following Him. What I pulled most out of it though was in the first 10 to 15 minutes and really had not much to do with the actual sermon. You know the time when the pastor pulls in his attention grabbers to make sure you pay attention. Well I couldn’t help but sit there and really laugh at his silly little jokes. He isn’t a professional-comedian but he really tickled my funny-bone today.

I don’t know that I had genuinely laughed all week. I know I had yelled, cried, and wallowed in self-pity. But laughed… I don’t remember doing it at all this week until this morning. I sat in the pew, smiling and just felt really uplifted. Almost as if I could feel the happy-chemicals swirling around in my blood and up to my brain. AH… it felt so good to genuinely smile.

If you are looking for some additional information on the benefits of laughter here are a few good articles: