Cheer and Laughter

 Laughter is a tonic. It is nature's device for exercising the internal organs and giving us pleasure at the same time. It sends the blood pounding through the body, increases respiration, and gives warmth and glow to the whole system. So say the physicians. A scientist, after discovering that cheerful people resist disease better than glum ones, remarked, "The surly bird catches the germ."

Laughter is both a foe to disease and a cure for worry. It not only helps us to ward off sickness and "the blues" - it helps us to face up to life. When we have learned to laugh at our difficulties and problems, we have found a pleasant and profitable way to handle them. I think Christians should laugh more often. Not the shallow, hollow, empty laugh of the Godless, but the wholesome, joyous laughter of those who know that their souls and lives are in the care and keeping of One who never fails. The Christian life is a deep life; lightness and triviality can never predominate in it. Yet when Christ comes into the life, He surely brings gladness to the heart. A professing Christian who is dour and sour, long-faced and sad, will have little or no influence in winning the unbeliever to Christ and the Christian way of life.

Laughter is a gift of God--like sunshine, and music, and love. And one is the better for it, as he is for the use of these other divine gifts. Someone has said, "The most completely lost of all days is the one in which we have not laughed."

So - make today worthwhile - laugh a little!

Rejoice in the Lord always: again I will say, Rejoice." Phil. 4:4.