Laughter

"Laughter is the shock absorber that eases the blows of life."

The sermon in church this morning was about laughter.  I can't remember a single other time in my church attending history that I heard a sermon on laughter and this one couldn't have been more timely.  (Those of you who read my previous post will understand why.)  

The preacher began by giving several definitions of laughter, which included:

"An audible expression or appearance of happiness, or an inward feeling of joy."

and

"The manifestation of mirth, amusement, and joy"

When she finished reading off these definitions, my husband turned to me and I knew exactly what he was going to say, "That is also the definition of Gabe!"  He couldn't be more right.  We are truly blessed that despite (or perhaps because of) his diagnosis of Autism, Gabe is continuously filled with joy and happiness.  He laughs often and his laughter is truly "a smile that bursts" (quoted from Mary H. Waldrip).  

I take heart in the fact that while my son may struggle to communicate with speech, he is fluent in the universal human language of laughter.  If you have been blessed to experience Gabe's joyful laughter then you have witnessed the smile start forming on his lips that then spreads to his beautiful, bright, brown eyes.  Yes, you can literally see laughter in Gabe's eyes.  Sweet giggles soon follow and on many occasions, his happy giggling turns into hearty laughter that is truly  infectious.  "But a good laugh bursts forth from the soul, Overflows, and bubbles all around" (quote from Carolyn Birmingham).  I praise God that this is a daily blessing and not a rarity in our home.  In the profile section of this blog, I wrote, "Since receiving Gabe's diagnosis of Autism, we have clung to humor and sarcasm as coping mechanisms.  We believe firmly in the old adage, 'Sometime you have to laugh to keep from crying.'  Laughter has proven to be our best medicine time and again, even when the humor turns dark."  The humor has indeed turned dark at times when we have laughed about something that very few of our friends and even family members could possibly find funny.  The only other choice we have is to cry, so I am thankful that most days we choose laughter.  

Laughter has literally served as a shock absorber in our daily life, especially in our marriage.  On a particularly challenging day, when our nerves are shot and we are emotionally drained, don't be surprised to find Bruno and I having a good chuckle over the almost "too crazy to be true" events of our day.  The fact that we can laugh about these seemingly tragic occurrences throughout our day, instead of popping pills or drinking the pain and stress away is proof that laughter very well may be the best medicine (and without side effects)!  

To hear this sermon today, after I poured out my heart here just a few days ago is just a little too coincidental, don't you think?  Was Divine Intervention at play here?  I truly believe that God has a sense of humor and I think He may have been reminding those in attendance of this particular service that there are times when we need to remember to cast our cares on Him and then sit down and have a good laugh... a good, side splitting laugh.