Laughter

 On the flight home to Belfast yesterday I was sitting behind a very happy smiley baby who was probably about four or five months old.  His Mum and Dad spent the whole flight sitting a monkey soft toy on the headrest of the seat in front and then dropping it into baby's lap.  And he just laughed and chortled and giggled over and over again.  It was delightful.  But it made me wonder..... why do babies find the repetition so amusing?  And why is it that laughter is one of the very first things that we human beings learn to do?  Long before we can talk or sign or make our needs known we can laugh.  I suppose we do cry first. But the next skill we learn is laughter.   If you want a chuckle watch this wee one having fun with a piece of paper

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RP4abiHdQpc&t=37s

Its nice to think of Jesus as a baby laughing . Playing peek-a-boo with his Mum and Dad.  Being tickled and thrown up and caught. There is such an innocence in the laughter of a baby and it always makes adults stop and smile.  When Sam was really small I remember one evening he was lying on his tummy on the sitting room carpet. Keith got down on the floor and lay beside him.  For some reason Keith tapped his hand on the floor.  Sam erupted into giggles. We laughed and Keith did it again.  More hysterical laughter from Sam.  Then Sam tapped his hand on the carpet and we all fell about laughing again.  This went on for about half an hour. It was such a special moment because he was so little and yet the three of us were enjoying each other so much without words.  Pure joy.

God rejoices over us.  I wonder what that actually looks like?   I suspect it is very similar to the response of the parent giggling at the laughter of the baby.  Or the pride felt by the parent at the smallest achievement of the child.  The fruit of the Spirit is joy and joy is most often expressed through laughter isnt it?  . Isnt it so fantastic that our God has a sense of humour and can laugh with us as  well as at His enemies.  The scriptures are full of encouragement to us to rejoice.  As we get older it seems to me we rejoice less and less. But laughter is really good for us - its a God-given way for us to release stress, strengthen bonds between people and feel better about the world,

This Christmas lets try to embrace the simple joys.  Lets laugh at the cracker jokes, watch the TV shows that make us chuckle and spend time tickling little people if we possibly can. Because this is the season of great joy which shall be for all people.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Astronomer's story

Image
  The day I met you, changed me. I had spent my life in the pursuit of scientific knowledge, being taught by the best minds in Arabia and studying alongside the brightest students in the country.    My parents had paid for me to travel so that I could expand my knowledge and I was considered one of the leading scientists in my field.    Which was geometry and astronomy.         Several weeks prior to my journey to Bethlehem I had been with a group of students calculating the next season of lunar phases    and mapping the stars when one of my youngest disciples asked a question    which changed the trajectory of my life.      He wanted to know what was my explanation for a comet which he thought he had seen the previous evening    in the eastern    skies.         I had assured him that the charts did not predict any such comet and that he must have been s...
Read more

Joseph's story

Image
 The day I met you was one of the most stressful days of my life.      We had walked for four days to get to Bethlehem to register for the census.    Id done the journey many times before, but never with a heavily pregnant wife, and never with so many people on the roads.    It was hot and busy, but at least there were plenty of people to chat to, and of course your presence in the form of a sizeable ‘bump’ was a good conversation starter.      We had found places to stay along the road – a cousin of your uncles sister and a business associate of mine put us up for a night each.    Not exactly luxury, but good enough and it was kind of them to offer their food and beds to us as we travelled.     But by the time we got to Bethlehem your mother was very tired and somewhat anxious that we would find somewhere to sleep that night.     Town was heaving with people, and with soliders. ...
Read more

Hark the Herald

Image
  Hark! The herald angels sing, “Glory to the newborn King; Peace on earth, and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled!” Joyful, all ye nations rise, Join the triumph of the skies; With th’angelic host proclaim, “Christ is born in Bethlehem!” Refrain: Hark! the herald angels sing, “Glory to the newborn King!” I was listening to this in the car yesterday on the way home from a very pleasant beach walk and lunch out with the family.  It was being sung more slowly that I would normally listen to it and this made me stop and think about the words and what it is that Wesley actually managed to pack into a few lines.  We know these words so well we may not often stop to think about what we are actually saying.  So here is my re-write of Hark the Herald in 21st century English Listen!  The angels are singing something prophetic.  They are heralding the birth of a King who is worthy of having glory ascribed to Him.  From hereon in there will be peace on earth ...
Read more