A Time to Laugh?

"And Sarah declared, 'God has brought me laughter. All who hear this will laugh with me." Genesis 21:6 NLT

Sarah made this statement eight days after her and Abraham's son, Isaac, was born. If you remember the story, Abraham was 100 years old at this time. Sarah wanted a child for many years and it just didn't happen. So, she in her sadness and frustration, she tried to 'help' God by having her maid servant bear Abraham a child. But that isn't what God wanted. God wanted to be the answer to her prayer. And even though Sarah gave up on Him, He still honored His promise and she conceived and they had Isaac.

As a side note--I don't know about you, but when you name your child, there is a lot that goes into it. A lot of prayer and thought. So does it surprise you that the meaning for the name 'Isaac' means, he laughs? How appropriate!

During times of your life, it may be hard to laugh. It may seem like the most unappropriate thing to do. And it could be. For you. But God did create the gift of laughter for us to help us and our spirits. In our own timing.

Have you experience moments, when something seems so bad, that the situation that you are in, or the emotion that you are experiencing, is so sad that you are just stuck there. And all of a sudden, for some reason, you start to giggle or laugh just a short laugh. It's like a little pressure spout on a pressure cooker--it lets out a little of the feelings that are going on inside. And whala--you start to feel better.

Jesus laughed, cried, got angry and loved. God laughed, got angry, jealous and loved. We were created in Their image. It's alright for us to experience all those emotions. It's what we do with them that makes them appropriate or unappropriate.

Our God is a gift giver. His generosity is obvious in how lavishly He bestows on us rainbows, waterfalls, sunrises and sunsets. Smiles and giggles helps us to express not only our gratitude and happiness, but also our sorrow and frustrations. Thank Him for that gift.

"Jesus said, 'Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.'" Luke 6:21 NLT