Mike’s Musings ….
The Value of Laughter
Solomon mentions the value of a merry heart three times in his book of Proverbs, but the most remembered is found in chapter seventeen, verse twenty-two: “A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.” The psalmist said concerning the release of Jerusalem from captivity, “Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing then said they among the heathen, The LORD hath done great things for them.” (Psalm 126:2) The point is simple: there’s a value to laughter!
Good, clean fun is what I’m talking about! As the famed Red Skelton once said, “It’s so much more rewarding to make people laugh without the use of four-letter words.” If vulgarity, cursing, dirty stories, etc. make us laugh, then we’re delighting in sin and our minds are infiltrated with trash! However, good clean funny things make us laugh and the benefits are incredible.
I remember a story about my doctor-grandfather. He had a patient who was suffering from adhesions created by multiple surgeries. He entered the patient’s home and began telling him funny stories that resulted in raucous laughter. Tears streamed down the patient’s face as he could not refrain from laughing, and he begged the doctor to stop, which only persuaded the doctor to continue. Finally, he left the home, promising to return the next day. He did and the patient was feeling much better. Again, the doctor began telling funny stories and the treatment had the desired effect. Within a few days, the adhesions were released, and the pain ended! “A merry heart doeth good like a medicine.”
Remember also that Solomon said, “There is a time to weep and a time to laugh.” (Ecclesiastes 3:4) There are appropriate times and places for both emotions. At times, weeping helps us feel better, but laughter usually makes us feel better still! The apostle Paul would agree as he wrote to Philippi, and several times in those four short chapters encouraging us to “Rejoice evermore.” Christians are to be happy people: a people that love life and strive to see good days, refraining our hearts from evil, hating evil as we seek good and ensue it! (cf. 1 Peter 3: 10 – 12) I muse on the value of laughter, and how wonderful it is to laugh at those things that are truly comical, and that are without the dribble of filth! I muse on the enjoyment of laughing with joyous souls instead of laughing at people. There are truly funny things in this world, things which make us laugh without sin, and those things, dear friends, are like a marvelous medication for otherwise weary hearts!