“I married a woman who loves to camp, and I am what you would call "indoorsy"... My wife always brings up, "Camping's a tradition in my family." Hey, it was a tradition in everyone's family 'til we came up with the house.” Jim Gaffigan
Laughing is good. I need to laugh more.
Smiling is good. I need to smile more.
I can be intense, sometimes too intense.
My thinking face does not always look like a happy face.
There’s something about smiling that is not only good for me, but also good for you.
I can’t prove this, but I’m guessing Jesus smiled a lot. I think he laughed a lot. And I’m pretty confident that He even cracked jokes a lot. Don’t ask me for a verse on that because I can’t give you one, but I can tell you that there was a whole crew of people that followed Jesus around full-time for three years. Yes, His teachings were amazing. The miracles, well, they were miraculous. And the way Jesus loved- His love was sincere and tangible.
That being said, I also think they followed Him because He was a lot of fun to be around. There are a lot of moments of Jesus’s life that were not recorded. Like when he would travel miles and miles on foot between cities. I imagine Jesus used these moments to teach His followers, but I also think He used these moments to make them smile and laugh.
When you picture Jesus, what do you envision? I’m guessing it’s a more serious, intense Jesus. Yes, there’s certainly a version of Jesus that was passionate and intense… absolutely. But do you ever picture Jesus smiling? Or laughing? Or cracking a joke?
I do. And that helps me not to take myself so seriously.
Prayer is good… very good.
Fasting is good… so very good.
But don’t forget in the midst of that to smile and laugh… that’s also good for your soul, and it may be exactly what the souls of those around you need.
p.s. if you’re looking to begin practicing smiling and laughing, just watch this:).
“For everything there is a season… A time to cry and a time to laugh.” Ecclesiastes 3:4 (NLT)
