Coffee Hour @ Chicklit Power: Laugh With Me

Coffee Hour @ Chicklit Power...

Thanks so much for joining me today for a little coffee break! I’m delighted to write from my heart to yours, and I am enjoying keeping it “light,” learning to laugh a little more, stress a lot less . . . be happy! Grab your coffee and come laugh with me!

Did you know that joy, humor and laughter are spiritual gifts? Joy was one of the common threads woven into the teachings of/by Christ but often times, the sad parts of His ministry can overwhelm the happy parts, the joy that flowed out of Him and splashed others. Take for instance what many scholars and theologians call his “table ministry,” or “table fellowship.” Jesus loved to fellowship and He most often did that around a dinner/banquet table. Don’t some of our sweetest smiles come from memories shared around a dinner table, at a get-together with friends or family where we eat together, delighting in one another’s company, sharing old memories while creating new ones?

The Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) all reveal Christ’s sense of joy and many of them more than hinted at His playfulness. The consistent themes He spoke about – love your enemies; pray for those who persecute you for that will be like adding coals of fire on their head; forgive seventy times seven, and if you’re counting, you’re not forgiving – let’s face it; in the world’s eyes, these are ridiculously funny but we as members of the Bride of Christ know the importance of these moral lessons and their validity. But Jesus knew they would be funny to many. He knew how to share a good story, catch a listener’s attention, soften the heart with 

laughter and then pierce it with truth.                                                                       He fills my heart

                                                                                                                                     with laughter!

And He enjoyed laughing as well, not just making others laugh. Look at the
story of Nathaniel (John 1:43-50) who was told by his friends that the Messiah
was from Nazareth and Nathaniel says: “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”
I can almost see Nathaniel’s smile indicating he was joking because it was common
knowledge that Nazareth was considered a “backwater” town where few families lived.
But did Jesus smile at the joke?

I don’t know about you, but I probably would have been a little offended, gotten my feathers a bit rustled. Have you ever been in a crowd and someone said something they meant as a joke but you took too seriously? Ah, all the more reason we need to learn to lighten up, see because Jesus didn’t get offended at what was meant as a joke! He laughed! Here is how we know, because of what He replied: “Here truly is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.” In other words, I can just see Jesus chuckling, and even reaching out to shake Nathaniel’s hand, knowing in His heart that this guy says what he means and means what he says. His heart is made cheerful by Nathaniel’s authenticity! In fact, Jesus welcomes him as one of his apostles! This is a sure sign that Jesus loves a sense of humor!

Think of a time where you know that you know He had to have smiled or laughed with you!

Smiling from the inside out,


Evinda