The Gift of Laughter

Laughter and light heartedness is important to God.  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

These verses don’t pretend that hard times don’t come in our lives.  We can feel broken by lots of different experiences and we’re even told to expect some trouble every day.  But, the good news we encounter in these verses is that when we allow God to give us a happy heart, in whatever circumstances we find ourselves, we remain strong and feel nourished in every way.

Lord Jesus, you have come to earth to fill our hearts with joy.  You want us to be completely happy.  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.  We choose to follow Your plan for this day.  We choose for joy.  Psalm 118:24

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 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.

I will turn their mourning into joy, I will comfort them and give them gladness for sorrow.”

Jeremiah 31:13

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. 

And so again today we put our trust in you.  We commit ourselves to You and invite you to do just that.  Take our lives in the middle of all that is going on and give us joy.  Fill us with laughter and gladness, even today.  Amen

So, let’s take our medicine – and today’s medicine is to have a cheerful heart – and trust God to keep us strong.  Have a great day.