by DeAnna Julie Dodson
A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.
Proverbs 17:22 KJV
Sometimes I get overwhelmed.
When my boss and my writing and my household (with four demanding feline furbabies) and my human family and just life all seem to pull me in twenty different directions at the same time, it's easy for me to get grim and fierce and even angry. But does that help?
It doesn't change the situation.
It doesn't make people want to be around me or try to help me get through it.
It doesn't even make me feel better.
So why bother with all that? Yeah, it comes naturally to me, I guess, especially on days when the sprinkler system springs a leak, or the freezer doesn't freeze or it takes me over an hour's worth of reboots and diagnostics to send one little e-mail. But what if, instead of fuming and fretting, I just decided to laugh? What if I decided to realize that these little frustrations are so nothing, even just in view of my so blessed day? I won't even talk about what they mean in the light of eternity.
Laughter, of course, doesn't change the situation, but it can change me. It's a great tension reliever, and if it lets out some tears, too, so be it. Those can be good as well.
Billy Joel once famously wrote, "I'd rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints, the sinners are much more fun... "
Now I won't get into his particular brand of twisted theology here, but I personally would rather laugh with the saints than cry (weep, wail, gnash teeth) with the sinners. I don't think God meant his beloved children to be grim. But sometimes it's hard to remember that when life gets to be grim.
But the medicine, a good laugh, is always there to do us good. I believe it's one of God's sweet provisions for us "in this veil of tears."
Here are a few short videos just to get you started:
When my boss and my writing and my household (with four demanding feline furbabies) and my human family and just life all seem to pull me in twenty different directions at the same time, it's easy for me to get grim and fierce and even angry. But does that help?
It doesn't change the situation.
It doesn't make people want to be around me or try to help me get through it.
It doesn't even make me feel better.
So why bother with all that? Yeah, it comes naturally to me, I guess, especially on days when the sprinkler system springs a leak, or the freezer doesn't freeze or it takes me over an hour's worth of reboots and diagnostics to send one little e-mail. But what if, instead of fuming and fretting, I just decided to laugh? What if I decided to realize that these little frustrations are so nothing, even just in view of my so blessed day? I won't even talk about what they mean in the light of eternity.
Laughter, of course, doesn't change the situation, but it can change me. It's a great tension reliever, and if it lets out some tears, too, so be it. Those can be good as well.
Billy Joel once famously wrote, "I'd rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints, the sinners are much more fun... "
Now I won't get into his particular brand of twisted theology here, but I personally would rather laugh with the saints than cry (weep, wail, gnash teeth) with the sinners. I don't think God meant his beloved children to be grim. But sometimes it's hard to remember that when life gets to be grim.
But the medicine, a good laugh, is always there to do us good. I believe it's one of God's sweet provisions for us "in this veil of tears."
Here are a few short videos just to get you started:
Disorder in the Court
Ricky Tells a Bedtime Story
Rabbit Season/Duck Season
So go ahead. Have a good laugh. It's good medicine!
What makes you laugh? How does it help?
DeAnna Julie Dodson has always been an avid reader and a lover of storytelling, whether on the page, the screen or the stage. This, along with her keen interest in history and her Christian faith, shows in her tales of love, forgiveness and triumph over adversity. She is the author of In Honor Bound, By Love Redeemed and To Grace Surrendered, a trilogy of medieval romances, and Letters in the Attic, a contemporary mystery. A fifth-generation Texan, she makes her home north of Dallas with four spoiled cats.
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12 comments:
Hey DeAnna, I love to laugh and I'm blessed to have lots of laughter in our marriage because my husband makes me laugh. Especially when I'm trying to stay angry at him.
Babies make me laugh. Especially when preceded by a shocked look that turns into a deep belly laugh. Spontaneous joy. Wow! What a blessing.
I loved the Three Stooges. Yes, I admit I laughed at the violence. But it was slapstick comedy at its best along the lines of Bugs Bunny and the Road Runner. Even at a young age, we knew it wasn't real and we never felt an inclination to follow suit.
And Lucy, yes, Lucy was the Queen of making me laugh. Still does.
Thanks for the great post, DeAnna. I'm blessed to have so much laughter in my life.
Anita Mae.
Oh, I'm glad your husband makes you laugh, Anita. That's SO important in keeping things going in marriage.
And, yeah, we always watched all the slapstick stuff. I never had an uncontrollable urge to poke someone in the eye or hit them with a pie. ;)
Those were fun :) Thanks. For some reason it struck me that Lucy was probably quite edgy in her day with her Hispanic husband. Completely different subject.
Yeah, Dina, I've often wondered, after the especially acute racial tensions of the '60s and '70s how this very early (for TV) mixed marriage was so widely and calmly accepted in the '50s.
Of course, I haven't researched it, so maybe there was more controversy than I know about, but I never heard any.
I do know Cuban-American relations were strained toward the end of "Lucy," so much so that Ricky was suddenly Mexican in the last episode.
Interesting.
Love it, DeAnna. Humor is so important! One of the most romantic gifts my husband ever gave me was... Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter. Not a romantic book, but he bought it because I'd loved the author's earlier novel, Pride & Prejudice & Zombies, which made me laugh and snort and all that stuff.
I'm blessed to be married to a funny guy.
I love babies' belly laughs too, Anita. Those are the best!
Oh, that's great, Susanne! If I ever find Mr. Write (ahem), he'll have to be able to put up with my weird sense of humor and not take me seriously when I get grouchy. ;)
A few years back, I was home recovering from anemia, followed by a surgery to correct it. I encountered Monk on television. So funny. I needed the laughs so badly, it wasn't long before I'd seen the whole series. I got obsessed trying to figure out what made it so funny.
I still try to include what I learned in my writing.
Love this: "Laughter, of course, doesn't change the situation, but it can change me."
Oh, Barbara, I LOVE Monk! What a great show that is.
And I do think laughter has genuine physical healing properties. I think anyone with a serious (or not so serious) illness should have a marathon of whatever makes them laugh. Not what amuses them, but what makes them genuinely laugh out loud.
It really is good medicine.
Barb and DeAnna, I love Monk, too. He always makes me laugh. I have a few favorite movies, too, that always make me laugh - no matter how many times I watch them: Ferris Bueller's Day Off, and Young Frankenstein.
My son makes me laugh all the time. He has a very dead-pan, Seinfeld-ish sense of humor.
Fun post, DeAnna.
Isn't it great to have your own personal stand-up comedian? :D
I enjoyed your post on Friday, DeAnna and was sorry when my clever comment imploded into cyberspace.
I think - THINK - that I tend to find the funny side to life more often than not. Thanks for the videos as well!
Thank you, Deb.
And the videos are just silly fluff, but that's the point. :D
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