Our holidays were probably a lot like yours. We ate – a lot. Watched a few minutes of football, then later, we watched a movie. We played games, where I was introduced to the riotous game of Spoons before we ate some more. Then, it happened, an innocent moment so profound that I haven’t been able to get it out of my mind.
Y’all, I got schooled by a first grader.
It happened during yet another rowdy round of Spoons. If you’ve never played, I highly recommend you include it in your next family game night (though I also recommend plastic spoons for reasons that will quickly become apparent as you play). Basically, players sit in a circle around a table, and each player is dealt four cards from the deck. Spoons are laid in the center of the table, in a quantity that is always one less spoon than the number of players. When the round begins, cards from the remainder of the deck are picked up and passed quickly around the table until someone gets four of a kind and takes a spoon from the center. The sneakier the spoon snatch, the better.
Once the player with four of a kind takes a spoon, anyone can and should take a spoon. This is the point in which the game becomes a crazy free-for-all of slapping hands and flying spoons. Because there aren’t enough spoons for all players, adults and children alike go completely rabid while vying for that last spoon. It’s savage and hysterical and just the comic relief I needed after the stress leading up to the holiday season.
During one memorable round that evening, someone’s fingers clipped the tip of the spoon and sent it airborne, ending in two players wrestling in the corner of the room for possession of the last plastic spoon, and thereby, world domination. The hilarity of the game had built round after round, and watching this scene unfold, I started laughing so hard I couldn’t catch my breath. With tears leaking out of the corner of my eyes, clutching stomach muscles that hadn’t worked that hard all year, I sighed, “I haven’t laughed like this in ages.”
The sweet child to my left heard my murmur. With complete seriousness, she looked up at me, cocked her head, and after a few seconds of considering what I’d said, she nodded and added with insight that belied her years, “You should laugh more.”
You should laugh more.
Indeed, sweetheart. Indeed.
To be fair, this year has brought countless moments that simply weren’t laughable. Quite the opposite, this year has brought tears of sorrow, intense periods of isolation, psychological turmoil and physical disasters that this land hasn’t seen in centuries. A record-shattering hurricane season, murder hornets, flooding, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, megafires, and my personal favorite, firenadoes, because fires and tornadoes aren’t scary enough on their own.
Drought, famine, humanitarian emergencies. Protests, rioting, uprisings and arrests. Political scandals, impeachment, debate fails and ballot recounts. And recounts. And recounts. Shutdowns, quarantines, mask wars and vaccine uncertainties.
And the granddaddy of all news headlines, COVID-19: within weeks, a virus that we didn’t even know existed at this point last year became a blanket of death draped across the entire globe.
I think we can all agree, 2020 has been a brutal year, leaving no one unscathed. If it’s no mystery why I’m finding it difficult to laugh in the present, it’s equally understandable why I’m not confident about the future. Just twelve short (loooooong) months ago, we blew our party horns and bid 2019 goodbye, blissfully unaware of the atrocities 2020 would bring. Our “new year, new me” proclamations rang loud and clear, and with smiling faces, we charged into 2020 with confidence and a goodly amount of naïveté.
Here we are again, knocking on the door of a new year, though many people I know are approaching this new year a bit more cautiously. Eyes wide open, they are reticent, and they are not alone. I would certainly be lying if I said I wasn’t harboring some anxiety about what awaits us in 2021.
You should laugh more…
I long for this to be my reality, but how?
We all know that laughter is good for us, psychologically, emotionally, and physically. The oxygen-rich air that is taken in during laughter stimulates your heart, lungs and muscles, and releases a flood of endorphins from the brain that combat stress and tension. Study after study has proven that laughter boosts your immune system, relieves physical pain and acts as a natural anti-depressant.
I know this about laughter, on a cerebral level; my struggle is in living it, in finding humor in a world that is suddenly so serious. Herein lies my dilemma: Who or what do I turn to when my laughter – my joy – has been snuffed out by the dark tapestry that 2020 has woven, like wet burlap tossed to extinguish the flames of a grassfire? How do I, as this sweet child so eloquently declared, laugh more?
I started with a search through the Bible for the word, “laughter.” Keeping this blog real, I have to admit that my search results were rather depressing.
“I said of laughter, ‘It is madness,’ and of pleasure, ‘what does it accomplish?’”
Ecclesiastes 2:2
Such a ray of sunshine and glittery rainbows, that King Solomon.
Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will go hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will weep and mourn.”
Luke 6:25
I’m going out on a limb here, but I don’t think you will find this verse embroidered on a pillow at Hobby Lobby.
“If a wise man has an argument with a fool, the fool only rages and laughs and there is no quiet.” Proverbs 29:9
Proverbs 29:9
I found quite a few verses about the laughter of fools. A lot, actually. Many others described the laughter of God before He vows to destroy the fools who scorn Him, which is a sound of laughter I hope I never hear. Then, I stumbled upon this verse:
“She is clothed with strength and dignity, and she laughs without fear of the future.”
Proverbs 31:25 NLT
She laughs without fear of the future…
I long for this to be my reality, but how? Again, I took my search back to the Bible, this time focusing on the word “future.”
“I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose.’”
Isaiah 46:9-10
“Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.”
Psalm 90:2
“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”
Revelation 1:8
Behold, verses we can take comfort in!
She laughs without fear of the future… because she knows God will be there. He was here, He is here, and He will be where the next year takes her.
She laughs without fear of the future… because she knows that through the dark days ahead, He will guide her. He has been faithful before, and He will be faithful again. Not every moment will bring her joy and laughter, but she can find peace in the darkness because her faith is not in her circumstances but in the Creator of her future.
She laughs without fear of the future… because she knows that through drought and famine, earthquakes and firenadoes, He will provide. There will be trouble and trials in her future – the Bible promises that – but she can step forward in confidence knowing every one of her days are held in the hands of Almighty God.
She laughs without fear of the future… because she knows that even when governments are shaky and unrest abounds, He will be rock-steady and unchanging. No matter what comes, His good and perfect plans for her – for us – will prevail.
Take heart, my friends, He has authority over the future because He is already there! He is not just Alpha, He is Omega – from everlasting to everlasting.
Happy New Year, friends! Blow that party horn and usher in this next year with confidence and hope. By the way, don’t forget those plastic spoons… you should laugh more.
“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.”
Romans 15:13
“He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
Revelation 21:4