“A merry heart does good, like medicine, but a broken spirit dries the bones.” Proverbs 17:22

A Merry Heart!

I come from a long line of family members who occasionally have what I’d call hysterical laughter. I’m pretty sure it all started with my dear mom, who was known now and then to get completely out of control. Some crazy, minor thing would happen and off she’d go into unbridled merriment, and the rest of us weren’t far behind.

Now, I’m talking about the kind of laughter where you totally lose it and absolutely can’t stop. Tears run down your cheeks, and when you’re finally done, you feel like you’ve done a heavy workout. They do say that laughter is like internal jogging! I’m all for that.

Well, the other day after church, my husband and I went out to lunch with some friends. After a lovely meal, we all stood outside on the sunny side of the building to chat, but as we got ready to leave, I noticed that my shoe seemed somehow oddly attached to the pavement. Huh? As I I tried to raise my foot up to see what was wrong, I realized I was standing in the biggest wad of chewing gum I’d ever seen. I wondered, really, how could that much gum even fit in someone’s mouth?

Well, needless to say, I was “fit to be tied” as my mama used to say. Blazing hot sun had made that gumball gob super-stringy, so as I lifted up my foot and took a step, the gummy mess strung along with me. “How far do you think we can string this thing?” I asked, and burst out laughing. That’s all it took for the hysterics to start for the others. Needless to say, that stretch of gum just kept looping along the sidewalk, step after step. Pretty soon, we were all one big laughing, hysterical mess. Now, we had not been drinking alcohol, but it’s entirely likely we may have looked like it for a while there.

I realized then, that for me, these lighthearted times are just way too far apart. Boy, just turn on the news and there are multiple reasons to be heavy-hearted these days. We can become downhearted, gummed-up, and before we know it, our “broken spirit dries our bones.” I’ve definitely been there.

I’m so thankful God gave us the wonderful gift of laughter, kind of an internal pressure release. A merry heart really does do “good, like a medicine,” and can make the gloomiest day brighter.

“Dear Lord, please help us turn our gummed-up heaviness over to You and have an ear to hear the light-hearted joy You give in return. You truly do “turn our mourning into dancing” (Psalm 30:11). Help us learn to laugh again in these days of trial and adversity. Amen.”