Could You Use a Little Laughter?

Proverbs 17:22 (ESV)
²² A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.


I took every course on preaching that my seminary offered. I'm not sure it helped.

I don't blame the professors. They tried. I just didn't get what a lot of people get. The professors tried to encourage me with good grades in preaching. I knew better. I know what a good sermon is. I rarely give one.

I made a joke while preaching in one of these seminary preaching classes. I said, "I am tired of telling how good seminary is. I lost the house I owned when I came to seminary. I lost the income I had. I have to spend time reading lots of books I couldn't care less about. And then, I have to listen to all of these seminary students come in here and tell me what a blessing seminary has been. I'm so tired of it. I saw a student with a big goofy smile coming down the hall the other day, so I slapped him! I thought I would just bring him back to reality!"

Everyone laughed. Or at least I thought everyone laughed. I meant it as hyperbole. I meant it as a joke. But one student remarked after the sermon: "You should never make people laugh. The pulpit is God's desk and you have been placed with a great responsibility."

I listened but the professor said that he enjoyed it and was glad that I engaged the class with a joke. My whole sermon wasn't intended to be a joke. I hope I made some important points.

I don't believe that laughter is all that a preacher should produce but it certainly is appropriate at times. I don't want to take myself too seriously. I don't even want to take all the things that happen to me too seriously.

Yesterday, I drove my youngest daughter to Washington Dulles airport. At Sterling, VA a state trooper pulled me over. I was driving my wife's vehicle and had not noticed that the registration was two months past due and the inspection was one month overdue. I got two tickets plus court fees. I'll admit that I was pretty miffed.

But at who? Am I supposed to be upset with the trooper who gave me the tickets? Isn't he just doing his job? Am I supposed to be upset with my wife? She had surgery for breast cancer two months ago and probably didn't notice they had expired. Should I be upset with my daughter for needing to be taken to the airport? No, I was upset with myself for not pulling over and letting the patrolman pass me so that he wouldn't have time to notice they had expired!

I told my daughter that she needed to leave the tickets where I could easily find them so that when I was stopped on the way back I could say, "I already have two of those. Do you want them back?" She laughed. I laughed too.

You know what? Laughing made the whole thing a lot easier to swallow.

Sometimes life throws a curve. You can either sit in your spilled milk and cry about it or you can just laugh. Too often, I take little things so seriously. Taking little things seriously dries up my bones. I just need to laugh at them and go on. I just need to laugh out loud.

Even fake laughter prods me toward real laughter. And like a medicine, it makes me feel so much better.

So, go ahead. Laugh!

(If you know a state trooper in Sterling, VA please send him my blog. I think he could use a laugh too!)