Laughter...

As has been previously noted, here on this blog, and on Facebook, and for a few sorrowful souls, in person, I have a laughing problem. I bellow, I guffaw, I snort, I tend to get my entire body into the act of laughing. Yes, I am an embarrassment to my loved ones, quite regularly. If they see me heading to the greeting card section, they scatter like a shotgun blast. I have decided to embrace it, I cannot fight it anymore. And with each passing day of my life, I find the laughter so much more necessary to survive. Yes, survive. Today, for instance, my dear, dear friend Melinda and I spent the bulk of the day together. We talked, A LOT. (Well, I talked a lot, Melinda is an amazing listener). And we talked about some very heavy issues and topics. And we could do this for an entire day because we laughed A LOT. The laughter cleansed our palates so that we could dive into the deep end again. I was talking about laughing with my kids tonight and one of them accused me of frightening people, on occasion, when my laughter issues forth, unexpectedly. This leads me to the true epiphany of the day for me. Laughter keeps the fear at bay. There are so many things that strike fear in my heart. For instance, this afternoon, I laughed and laughed at and with a young man that I love with all of my heart. He is very funny. Sometimes even when he does not mean to be and he is quite puzzled by this laughter, which makes it so much worse. But, for some time now, my heart has been heavy with fear for the young man. He is making some scary choices and is struggling to get a handle on finding a better path. For me, this means that I am even more desperate for the laughter when I am with him. When we are laughing, he is the lighthearted kid that I want him to be and the laughter strengthens me to face the down times that will inevitably be right around the corner. This is so true in so many areas of my life. I know that God sends me regular laughter opportunities just to balance me and allow me to be strengthened so that I can be a decent wife and mother and sister and daughter and friend and teacher and mentor and leader and person.