Tag Archives: laughter

“Laughter is the Best Medicine”

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It is said that laughter is the best medicine, and it goes without saying that laughing does make one feel good. Two days ago while in serious conversation with a friend, some words fell out of my mouth that were completely inappropriate for a Christian elder. The fact that these words aptly fitted a particular part of the conversation made us both laugh at the same time. Between gales of laughter I tried to apologize for being offensive, but it only made us laugh all the more, to the point where we could no longer carry on a conversation. My friend called me yesterday to tell me she was still laughing (as was I), and that she had relayed the conversation to her husband, sending him into fits of laughter.

Please don’t ask me to repeat what was so funny because it might risk being banned from WordPress, or possibly from Session. However, I am still chuckling at this writing, and am so glad my friend is open-minded enough to appreciate the difference between a bad joke and a good laugh.

It is a wonderful feeling to share laughter…it really is good medicine.

Oh Happy Day!

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There are people who despair when their birthday rolls around each year. They don’t want to be 40 or 50 or 65, whichever one of the “big” birthdays happens to be theirs in any given year.

Me? I L O V E my birthday every single year. January 6 is my favorite day on the calendar. Why? I always say, “This is the day the Lord has made (for me, I will) rejoice and be glad in it.” (Psalm 118:24) And I always do. Why would I not? Each year, if not each day, is a bonus when we consider the alternative.

On Sunday some of my family came to help me celebrate a couple of days early. It was a wonderful day with lots of food, hugs, well wishes, love and laughter.

Today I look forward to lunch with some friends, and another visit with one of my daughters.

More companionship, more food, and more hugs.

Oh happy day! TYG!

The Wonder of Christmas

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Wishing peace, comfort, love, joy, and all the blessings of Christmas to each and every one.

THE WONDER OF CHRISTMAS

The wonder of Christmas,

The birth of a Child,

The angels are singing His praises,

The people rejoice

At the sound of His voice

Echoing down through the ages.

Hope, love and laughter,

Peace and goodwill,

The message resounds loud and clear,

The birth of God’s Son,

His gift to us all,

This is the wonder of Christmas.

©1995

 

On The Sidewalk of Life

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On Monday of this week, I had the sad opportunity to attend the funeral of a fifty-two-year-old young man who was a long-time member of my church. Andrew was the epitome of good nature, good deeds, and good looks. He was also the recipient of ominous cardiovascular genetics. His father and brother both died of this deadly disease at a very early age. Although his mother also had the gene, she did live a longer life, and Andrew became her solitary caregiver after she suffered a stroke in her early seventies.

This young man took care of his mother in the same way she cared for him as a child. He was always by her side, taking her to movies, out to dinner, to church functions, and to church every Sunday. When Andrew smiled, it lit up a room; when he laughed, it could be heard clear across Scarborough, and if Andrew cried, nobody heard it.

And his good works didn’t stop with his mother. On one occasion, I met Andrew when he was shopping at a Superstore where I had just purchased a patio set of table, four chairs and an umbrella. Seeing me trying to cram this whole set into my little Kia Magentis, totally without success, Andrew promptly pulled his van up behind me and loaded my patio furniture into it. “Where to, Patricia?” he asked with his famous brilliant smile. He followed me to my house, unloaded my set, and offered to put it all together for me. But I declined that extra service and sent him on his way, with a huge hug of thanks, to get his mother’s groceries. Not long after that, Andrew’s mother suffered a major stroke which ended her life, and saw him handle the final act of seeing to his mom’s last wishes.

That’s how Andrew walked the sidewalk of life. Everything he did was from the goodness of his heart; one that never functioned physically the way it was meant to.

After his mother’s death, Andrew began admitting to having problems with his heart. In spite of that, he picked up the pieces of life without his mom, and carried on living with a new sense of freedom, when he wasn’t in hospital for one procedure or another.

And then Andrew was gone. A massive heart attack took him in his sleep. I’m told he knew his days were numbered, but not for one moment do I believe that he gave in to self pity. I’m told that on his final day on earth, he mentioned to a neighbour that he wasn’t feeling well but went about filling the bird bath and feeder so that his feathered friends were looked after. That’s the kind of guy he was.

As the clergyman who did his funeral service told us, this good natured young man got off the sidewalk of life and onto the stairway to Heaven.  And he only did so after a final act of kindness.

Can you imagine how many angels were waiting for Andrew at the top of that stairway?

 

 

 

 

More on Not to Worry

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In 1989 the Canadian economy experienced the beginning of a downturn, and the booming business I had been used to for four years in my pretty little gift shop was suddenly not booming anymore. In fact it got to the point where I was behind on my rent. While trying to get past this hurdle without reverting back to the old worry habit, I turned the radio on to this line of Bobby McFerrin’s 1988 hit, Don’t Worry, Be Happy…The landlord says your rent is late…he may have to litigate…but don’t worry, be happy.

It made me laugh, and freed my mind to thinking through my dilemma, which got suitably sorted out in the end.

And then there’s this from Alpha’s Challenging Lifestyle by Nicky Gumbel:

It’s an excerpt from the chapter, How to Stop Worrying and Start Living.

There are seven reasons why we should not worry:

First…To worry is to miss the point in life

Second…Worry is illogical…it is a slander on God’s character

Third…Worry is a complete waste of time; it is futile, unproductive and pointless. So many things we worry about never happen.

Fourth…Worry is incompatible with faith

Fifth…Worry is un-Christian

Sixth…Worry is unnecessary

Seventh…Worry is incompatible with common sense. (This is my favorite)

And then there is this from All Things Are Possible Through Prayer by Charles L. Allen

Worry? Why worry? What can worry do?

It never keeps a trouble from overtaking you.

It gives you indigestion and sleepless hours at night

And fills with gloom the days, however fair and bright.

It puts a frown upon the face and sharpness to the tone.

We’re unfit to live with others and unfit to live alone.

Worry? Why worry? What can worry do?

It never keeps a trouble from overtaking you.

Pray? Why pray? What can praying do?

Praying really changes things, arranges life anew.

It’s good for your digestion, gives peaceful sleep at night

And fills the grayest, gloomiest day with rays of glowing light.

It puts a smile upon your face, the love note in your tone,

Makes you fit to live with others and fit to live alone.

Pray? Why pray? What can praying do?

It brings God down from heaven, to live and work with you.

Finally, this from an unknown poet:

In life there are only two things to worry about,

whether you are well, or whether you are sick.

If you are well, you have nothing to worry about,

but if you are sick, there are only two things to worry about;

whether you will get better or whether you will die.

If you get better, you have nothing to worry about,

but if you die, there are only two things to worry about;

whether you will go to heaven or to hell.

If you go to heaven, you have nothing to worry about,

and if you go to hell, you will be so busy shaking hands with your friends,

you won’t have time to worry!

That’s the end of the worry topic. Now for tomorrow’s post. Hmmm, let me think!

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Child in Me

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GG Brooke & CoraWhen I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. (1 Corinthians 13:11)

But then I grew up and put all childish things behind me. Well, you know, I really didn’t. I have a collection of Cabbage Patch Kids which began back in 1980 when I was bugging my daughters to have babies so I could be a grandmother. To keep me quiet until they were ready to accommodate my wishes, they gave me a CPK for Christmas one year–and then another and another.

I’m happy I still have those Kids because my great-granddaughters love to play with them when they come to visit.

Last Saturday, I was at a church bazaar and what do you think I found? A Cabbage Patch Kid–a lovely little girl, a little the worse for wear, but the child in me had to have her. I walked around that bazarre cuddling my new cutie-pie, and couldn’t wait to get home to add her to my CPK family.

When I was a child, I loved to hug trees. I still do, much to the embarrassment of my family when we are out together in a public park and I stop to hug a tree. I taught my grandchildren and great-grands to hug trees too!

When I was a child, I learned to say my prayers–Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep, etc–and taught that prayer to my children when they were small. Along with my everyday prayers, I throw that one in once in awhile just for the memories.

When I was a child, I was very serious. I know this because I was constantly being told, “Don’t be so serious!”

When My Precious Life, my memoir, finally arrives at the book stores, you will understand why I was so serious. Now, because I love to smile and make jokes I’m sometimes asked, “Are you ever serious?” Go figure!

When I was a child, my imagination ran wild. It still does.

As a child, I loved to daydream, and I still do. I love getting lost in reverie.

So you see, I am still a child at heart, and that’s okay because Proverbs 22:6 says Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.

And I say, “Amen to that!”