Welcome to "Tuesday"—No matter on which day you read it, or the time of day. "Tuesday" stands alone. The news is good! Rejoice!

 

Someone once said, "Laughter is an instant vacation." I guess that depends on where one goes on vacation. And with whom. But laughter does have a way of cutting through boredom, gloom, sadness, and even mild depression. Laughter doesn't have to last a long time—just long enough to break the static nature of things. It's like the sunshine breaking through the clouds after a storm passes by. Like a rainbow after a thundershower.

 

Laughter often begins slowly. Carolyn Birmingham catches it in this quote: "A smile starts on the lips. A grin spreads to the eyes. A chuckle comes from the belly. But a good laugh bursts forth from the soul, overflows, and bubbles all around." I like that "bubbles all around" stuff.

 

Have you ever noticed that laughing people seem to be happy people? The two often go together—happiness and laughter. Mort Walker called laughter "the brush that sweeps away the cobwebs of your heart." Here is a chorus by Oscar Eliason that I like to sing on gloomy days:

 

"Got any rivers you think are uncrossable?

Got any mountains you can't tunnel thru?'

God specializes in things tho't impossible—

He does things others cannot do."

(Copyright, Singspiration, 1945)

 

The traditional Season of Advent begins on the fourth Sunday before Christmas and ends on the day before Christmas. This year Advent begins on November 29 and concludes on December 24 at sundown, when Christmas Eve begins. The topic of this week's "Tuesday Morning" is "It's Time to Laugh Again." Advent is such a time. It's "the brush that sweeps away the cobwebs of your heart." And it all begins with a smile. Have a great week. Christmas is coming.

 

Tom Barnard

A Senior Encourager

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It’s Time to Laugh Again

Tom Barnard

 

hen I want to enjoy a good laugh, I read Erma Bombeck. I seldom discover anything funny on the Internet, even though I receive almost daily incoming mail from friends with a subject line that reads something like this: “Get Ready for a Good Laugh.” Few of these survive a quick read. But Erma? She seldom disappoints.

 

In Erma’s 1987 book, Family—the Ties that Bind…and Gag (McGraw-Hill)—she tells a story about the time she tried to pass some “heirlooms” to her children but was rebuffed in doing so. Here is a clip (152):

 

Every time I buy something of value, I have visions of my kids marking it down to $2 at a garage sale.

Sometimes I wake up at night in a cold sweat just thinking that my cup and saucer collection will fall into the hands of someone furnishing a summer cabin who doesn’t mind dishes that don’t match…I felt a sense of order about doling out some treasures to my kids last summer. I can still see the look of surprise on my daughter’s face as I held out my seventeen-year-old mink stole and said, ‘Do you know what this is?’ She put on her glasses and came in for a closer look. ‘Help me,’ she said. ‘Christmas. Severely depressed. Family. Daddy. Surprise.’ She nodded, ‘I got it. Daddy killed this and we ate it for Christmas dinner.’

 

Now that’s my kind of humor. Irony? Exaggeration? Of course. All of her books are full of stories like this. Choose any dreary day, check out one of Erma’s books from your public library, and be prepared to laugh. She had a gift of humor that was satisfied only when she could imagine a thousand of her readers bending over with laughter at one of her anecdotes.

 

Have you ever thought about the sense of humor Jesus had? Elton Trueblood, the respected Quaker spokesman, thought a lot about it. His 1964 book—The Humor of Christ—will warm your heart as you reflect on the subtle humor that entered into Jesus’ ministry.

 

One of the New Testament stories Trueblood found humorous was Jesus turning water into wine at the wedding in Cana. John’s gospel, chapter two. Jesus accompanied his mother to a family wedding at Cana. During dinner the wine supply was exhausted. Mary brought the problem to Jesus, who was not the least bit blessed by her request. She wanted her son to solve the problem. He was blunt in his reply to her, but nevertheless he gave instructions to the hired servants. He told them to fill to the brim all six of the large stone jars that held water normally used for Jewish ceremonial washing. Each jar contained between 20 and 30 gallons. It must have taken significant time for the servants to haul in that much water from the town well. When it was done, Jesus instructed the servants to dip out some of the liquid and take it to the master of the feast. When they did, they were astonished to discover that what had been well water only moments earlier had now become wine! And not just any of the cheap brands. This was great stuff!

 

The subtle humor in this story involves more than the servants—although it would be worthwhile reading if there had been a news story of this event, from an eyewitness perspective. What was truly humorous (to me) was that every drop of the water the servants hauled into the house was now wine. All of it! Six huge jars! Think 120 to 180 gallons! About a year’s supply for an average Jewish household. And all they needed to finish the evening of celebration was a pitcher or two! Awesome.

 

Do you see the humor in this story? Good. It’s there. And the story has a serious side, too. Several lessons can be drawn from it, but there is one that I feel is most important to remember and apply to our lives:

 

Whatever Jesus transforms, he transforms completely. And abundantly!

 

I don’t care to argue about what kind of wine it was. I’ll leave that to the wine experts. All I know from the story is that the groom and bride were saved from embarrassment, and the behind-the-scenes activity was the first “sign” that Jesus was the Son of God. Tell that to your children and grandchildren.