A Prayer To Find Laughter and Light heartedness In Spite of The Pandemic

 Laughter and light heartedness is important to God. Particularly through the heaviness and dreariness of long months of this pandemic I think it’s important that we allow our hearts to be lifted up and let the joy of the Lord strengthen us.

The Bible reminds us:

A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit saps a person’s strength.  Proverbs 17:22

For the despondent, every day brings trouble;  for the happy heart, life is a continual feast.  Proverbs 15:15

In the Bible we read how God’s people made bad choices, messed up their lives, and ended up in captivity.  Even though it was their own fault they were in the trouble they were in still God promised that in time he would deliver them and return them home.  When this happened it was almost like a dream and the joy of the people was so great that we are told they will filled with laughter. 

When the Lord brought back his exiles to Jerusalem,  it was like a dream! We were filled with laughter,  and we sang for joy. And the other nations said,  “What amazing things the Lord has done for them.” yes, the Lord has done amazing things for us!    What joy!  Psalm 126:1-3

I’m going to hang onto hope that God is going to get us through to the end of this very long season of the covid-19 pandemic and when we get to the other side of it we are going to be filled with wonder and joy and gratitude just like God’s people long ago and we are going to be able to say “What amazing things The Lord has done for us.  What joy!

In the meantime I want to give God a chance today to fill my heart with joy and laughter, even during the hard times.  Don’t you want to do the same? So let’s pray today and ask for that, shall we.

Lord Jesus, you have come to earth to fill our hearts with joy.  You want us to be completely happy.  There’s no time that seems to challenge that in our lives than these long and drawn out days and weeks of physical distancing and social isolating.  So many things seem to rob the joy from our daily lives.  But You are the one who gives us today.  Today is a day that you have made for us to rejoice and be glad in.  Psalm 118:24  We choose to follow Your plan for this day.  We choose for joy. 

You’ve told us that when we fill our lives with joy, we will be strong.  But You knew we couldn’t produce that joy on our own so thank goodness, you’ve offered us Your Holy Spirit to live in us and express joy to us and through us.  We welcome You, Lord.  Come and fill our hearts today with Your joy.  We offer our heavy hearts with their sorrows and frustrations and uncertainties to you.  We let go of all the things we can’t control and we say, Come Lord Jesus.  You take care of the things we can’t.  We want to live the way you intended for us to live and that’s in your joy.

Help us to not take the things of this day too seriously.  Of course we are sad for the heartbreak so many suffer but at the same time babies are born these days and give great joy to their parents and grandparents.  People are recovering from this virus and being able to come out of isolation and be with their families again. Vaccinations are increasing in many countries.  In many places the curve of the virus spread is flattening.  All of these are good things and we want to make space for them in our heart and give them an opportunity to give us joy.

Today we also want to thank you for all those who bring joy and laughter to our lives.  We ask a special blessing on them for all the smiles and laughter they’ve brought to our lives.  We pray to be those who pass that along to those we meet along the way today in whatever activities we are a part of.

You teach us how to live well each day and you yourself said: 

I have told you these things so that you can have the true happiness that I have. I want you to be completely happy. – John 15:11

Well, We don’t quite know how you are going to do it but Lord you’ve promised that you can turn our mourning into joy and as you comfort us we can find gladness even in our sorrow – even to the point of us being completely happy.  That’s certainly what we need in these days.  And so again today we put our trust in you.  We commit ourselves to You and invite you to do just that.  Amen

I will turn their mourning into joy, I will comfort them and give them gladness for sorrow.” — Jeremiah 31:13

Have a lovely day and I’ll look forward to seeing you again tomorrow.