for those who love laughing

sharing here an article that a friend posted to us today. i quite enjoy reading it and being reminded of happy things like this!




"Ever-Laughing Life!

Avoid being the cranky old person you swore you'd never be!

by Pastor John Coulombe


A joyful heart makes a happy face; a broken heart crushes the spirit … All the days of the afflicted are bad, but for the happy, life is a continual feast … A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit saps a person's strength (Prov. 15:13, 15; 17:22).

Allen Klein, who lectures on healing through humor, claims that children laugh 400 times a day while adults laugh only 15 times a day. Is it any wonder that the nightly news is so negative and dreary while Sesame Street and Barney are so bright and full of songs? Perhaps we need to spend more time with five year olds and instead of trying to get them to be like us, try to be more like them. Didn't Jesus say unless we become as children, we would not see or experience the Kingdom of God?

So how's your sense of humor? Solomon lays it out straight by warning us that three things occur when we lose our sense of humor: 1) our spirit breaks; 2) we shrivel up emotionally; 3) we lose our vitality and health. Research reveals that people with a sense of humor have fewer symptoms of physical ailments.

Norman Cousins, former editor of Saturday Review and professor at UCLA's School of Medicine wrote about his life-changing experience with humor. In his book, Anatomy of an Illness, he documented his story of dealing with a serious collagen disease. "I made the joyous discovery that 10 minutes of genuine belly laughter had an anesthetic effect and would give me at least two hours of pain-free sleep." He surrounded himself with videos of some of the great comedians. He also checked out of the hospital and moved into a hotel where he could "laugh twice as hard at half the price."

Cousins says that laughter is "inner jogging." Every system in our body gets a workout when we have a hearty laugh. Our cardiovascular and respiratory systems benefit more from 20 seconds of laugher than from three minutes of exercise on a rowing machine. Muscles release tension and endorphins are released into the blood stream, creating the "runner's high" which long-distance joggers experience.

It has been proven that laughter has an immediate and direct affect upon heart rate, skin temperature, blood pressure, breathing rate, muscle activity, brain activity, and finally, the way our body handles disease through activating our immune system and fighting infection. Impressive, huh?

Pastor Chuck Swindoll wrote "humor is not a sin. It is a God-given escape hatch … a safety valve … to lack a good sense of humor is a serious deficiency (The Finishing Touch). He then goes on to mention that a healthy sense of humor is determined by at least four abilities:

1. The ability to laugh at our own mistakes; 2. The ability to accept justified criticism—and get over it;
3. The ability to interject (or at least enjoy) wholesome humor when surrounded by a tense, heated situation;
4. The ability to control those statements that would be unfit—even though they may be funny.

Want to live long and well? Solomon wisely gives us the formula: A relaxed attitude lengthens life … (Prov.14:30) . Are you on edge, wound tight, worked up, and strung out? God's prescription is a sense of humor for those struggling with tense moments. I've heard it said that laughter is the lotion for the sunburns of life.

Helmut Thielecke, German theologian and pastor, gives us these poignant thoughts for we who are the Church: Should we not see that lines of laughter about the eyes are just as much marks of faith as are the lines of care and seriousness? Is it only earnestness that is baptized? Is laughter pagan? … A church is in a bad way when it banishes laughter from the sanctuary and leaves it to the cabaret, the nightclub, and the toastmasters.

So resist becoming the cranky, old person you swore you'd never be. May you have an ever-laughing life on earth and an everlasting life in heaven!


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