Laughter and Good Cheer

Laughter and Good Cheer

Laughter and Good CheerDo you like to laugh? Or have you forgotten how? Holiness does not mean cheerlessness. Actually, we are called to be cheerful no matter what. We are called to sing ourselves into God’s presence. We are called to be joyful. Laughter and good cheer are God’s good gifts to us.

On your feet now—applaud God! Bring a gift of laughter,
      sing yourselves into his presence.
(Psalm 100:1-2, MSG,*)

Laughter is indeed a gift from God. Life without laughter would be dull, boring, and very hard. Life full of love and laughter is as good as it gets at this side of heaven. With the words of Karl Barth “Laughter is the closest thing to the grace of God.”

Martin Luther declares “You have as much laughter as you have faith.” I guess that’s true. True joyfulness only comes from the Lord. Also, we can either concentrate on our troubles or we can lift our gaze up to God.

When we know that our worth comes from God who loves us, we are free to live in God’s grace and peace and laugh even in the middle of hardships.

Martin Luther has also said that “It is pleasing to God whenever thou rejoicest or laughest from the bottom of thy heart.” I just love to think that our God loves laughing. I tend to laugh loudly. That’s why it’s a relief to know that Martin Luther has said “If you are not allowed to laugh in heaven, I don’t want to go there.”

I imagine heaven is a place of laughter, sunshine, peace, praise, and adoration. I imagine heaven is the eternal presence of God and laughter is a glimpse of that here on earth.

 

Gracious God,
Thank you for giving us the gift of laughter.
Show us how to use this gift to ease our neighbors’ burdens.
Help us to bring more laughter into each other’s lives.
Give us more faith,
more laughter,
more compassion.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen

Q4U: What does bring laughter into your life?

Be blessed, my fellow pilgrim, as you embrace laughter and good cheer as gifts from God!

* [As you might have noticed, I enjoy reading the Bible in different translations and love comparing them. I have started linking the Bible verses to Biblegateway.com so you can easily read (and compare) them in the different versions I’ve used while preparing each post.].

Image courtesy of Mari-Anna Stålnacke. Linking up today withDance with Jesus, Faith-filled Fridays, Five Minute Friday.

4 thoughts on “Laughter and Good Cheer

  1. My children always make me laugh! Thanks for sharing and these encouraging words. 🙂
    Blessings,
    Sarah (www.sarahefrazer.com) #FMF

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

RSS
Follow by Email