Staying Positive in a Negative World

“A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.” Proverbs 17:22

Laughter is something my family was known for growing up. Even today I either hear, “I love your laugh,” or “I knew you were nearby when I heard that laugh.” The women in my family all inherited the loud and boisterous sound of laughter. You either love it or hate it. When we laugh, it is with every fiber of our being, all our positive energy inside is projected out across the space we occupy. I just recently noticed this inherited laugh with my 2-year-old granddaughter.

My mother had a brain aneurysm about 18 years ago, causing the early onset of dementia. For 18 years she slowly lost her memory and exceptional gifts and talents. One thing she didn’t lose was her indisputable laughter. Even in the last few years of her life, if watching the Carol Burnett show she would still somehow recognize the humor cues and giggle just at the right times.

I had read somewhere that people with dementia at a particular stage like to hold baby dolls or toy pets. My mom loved her cat Brandon who was orange and white. Brandon was no longer with us and passed a long time ago. I found a look alike mechanical cat that would purr, lick its paws and meow. It seemed ridiculous to my dad at first, but she enjoyed it. It brought her comfort. My mom would talk to the cat with caring words and comfort the mechanical cat by petting it. You couldn’t help but chuckle every time she responded to the pretend cat. It helped me find humor in a situation that wasn’t always pleasant. This toy cat would bring laughter back to a room that needed it.

The older I become the more I realize the less I laugh. When I do have a long and hard laugh, I find my cheeks hurt and suddenly appreciate how wonderful it is to laugh. With all the negativity in today’s world, it can be difficult to find laughter. Seeing humor in our hardships, even laughing at our own mishaps or mistakes can bring a lighter more positive side to a dim situation. A great example of bringing humor to a grim situation would be at my grandmother’s funeral. My cousin Jesse and I walked up to my grandmother’s casket to say our goodbyes. We were both crying and holding onto each other for support as we approached her. It was just the two of us, everyone else had been seated already. Suddenly, we both looked at each other and burst out laughing. With a great big hug, we cried and laughed into each other’s shoulders. We didn’t exchange any words and went to sit down in the pew with our family. It wasn’t until the service was over and we gathered at my parents’ home that Jesse broadcast the question, “Okay, is nobody going to talk about it?” Everyone started laughing knowing exactly what he was thinking. Everyone turned to laughter and shared how my grandmother’s make-up was done with a professional touch. We had never quite seen her looking so, should we say beautiful. You are probably wondering why that would be a problem. Our grandmother was Italian, and always wore bright pink rouge, with blue eyeshadow and purply red dyed hair. This was probably the first time we saw her this way. My cousin continued with, “Didn’t anyone give the funeral home her photo?” We just couldn’t stop laughing and turning to humor in the situation. It made for a wonderful segway into going down fond memories of our grandmother that day.

Where am I going to go with this scripturally you ask?

You can find lots of humorous verses in scripture. Not everything in the bible is so serious. I believe God has a sense of humor and allowed authors that contributed to scripture to share a little humor for us to remember not to take everything so serious. I believe God leaps with joy when he hears his children filled with laughter. For the right reasons of course. I’m sure Jesus had a few laughs with the disciples. One author of the bible in particular, King Solomon, demonstrated the early development of a standup comedian.

Now King Solomon is the author of Proverbs and considered Israel’s wisest king. He wrote over 3,000 proverbs and 1,005 songs. I often wondered what it must have been like being the scribe for King Solomon as he recites and comes up with each new Proverb. I could hear it now, the scribe responds to King Solomon with, “Yeah…yeah, your majesty, that’s a good one!” And where would all the proverbs come from? What interactions did King Solomon have that gave him each idea and scenario.

Picture this…King Solomon tells his scribe to get his animal skin out and some charcoal and water mix with a writing tool to dip it in to write.  King Solomon says to the scribe, “I’ve got a good one, you ready? “A gold ring in a pig’s nose is a gorgeous woman with no sense.” (Proverbs 11:22) You could almost hear them bursting out laughing. Okay so the meaning behind this verse isn’t so funny, but the usage of words in today’s world can be. Proverbs 11:22 implies the ugliness of a woman with poor character is there even if she is physically attractive.

To help bring a little laughter into your day. I encourage you to read the following few bible verses. Dig a little deeper and find out what the true meaning is behind each verse. Have fun with it and tickle your funny bone with some humorous verses.

Proverbs 4:7 - “Here’s where wisdom starts: get some of it.”

Proverbs 12:13 - “Bad people trip over their own lying lips. Good people don’t have a lip problem.”

Proverbs 14:4 - “If you don’t have oxen, at least your barn is clean.”

Proverbs 15:17 - “It’s better to eat veggies in a house filled with love Than to eat steak served by someone who hates your guts.”

Proverbs 17:12 - Better to meet a bear robbed of her cubs than a fool bent on folly.

Proverbs 21:9 - “You’re better off living in the corner of an attic Than downstairs, in the house of a cranky woman you can never please.”

Proverbs 23:9 - “Don’t talk to idiots. They’ll hate you because you sound smart.”

Proverbs 27:15-16 – “A quarrelsome wife is like the dripping of a leaky roof in a rainstorm; restraining her is like restraining the wind or grasping oil with the hand.”

Song of Songs 4:2 - “Your teeth are like a flock of sheep just shorn, coming up from the washing. Each has its twin; not one of them is alone.”

Job 10:10 – “Did you not pour me out like milk and curdle me like cheese,”

2 Samuel 10:4 – “So Hanun seized David’s envoys, shaved off half of each man’s beard, cut off their garments at the buttocks, and sent them away.”

So do as Sarah said in Genesis 21:6, “Sarah said, “God has brought me to laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me.” Allow yourself to find laughter for real, with joy and thankfulness to God for all the occasions he places before you.

PRAYER

God,

Thank you for your words and that I may find even humor during dark times. You are an amazing God that demonstrates the importance of joy and laughter. Help me see the lighter side of difficult situations and find more chuckles in my circumstances. Help me to recognize how I react to situations in front of others can affect those who witness it. Let your light shine and radiate a love for your people. Help me to love even those who annoy or hurt me. Help me to find more laughter in my life. Help me to be grateful and enjoy the funny things in life you gave me, rather than be a cranky, nagging, and quarrelsome person. Amen!