Cherish The Laughing Child
“Laughter is the blessed medicine!” I hear the sound of my teenage children and their friends laughing in the kitchen. I recall the sound of women’s voice’s and the lingering faint echoes of yesterday’s light-hearted moments spent laughing together in my living room. The angel presence of “laughter” rings throughout “The Cherishing Room”. I hear the sound of a new friend’s laughter, who writes a column called, “The Laughing Mother”, reminding me to not take life too seriously. I remember the verse in Psalms, “that laughter is the best medicine” and the one in Proverbs, that “a merry heart doeth good like medicine.” Suddenly, I am sent into a myriad of happy memories, both silly and splendid, where laughter played such a precious role in creating a respite of happiness. I was indeed, “The Laughing Child”. Once, I was punished for my inappropriate timing. I was sent to the chalkboard to press my nose against it, in a big chalk circle for laughing during an Easter film. My little friend had so delightfully and infectiously good-humored me in an unwarranted moment of absolute bliss. It was hard to stop laughing, even at the chalkboard. At least for the first hour. The second wasn’t so pleasant. It’s time to reach within and comfort the laughing child. That wasn’t my last lesson in learning to “turn off the laughter”!
Somehow, God manages to sandwich in-between this most serious blessing called, “Life”, some wonderful “blissings”, as well. A “blissing” is a word I just made up which means, “unexpected moments of joy”. “Be of Good Cheer”, His Son kept telling the people, reminding them, that he had overcome the world.
I am grateful for those moments of sheer comic relief that seem to even out the wrinkles in life’s fabric. I hear a faint chorus of giggling with my sister’s, even in our forties, like little school girl’s. These sweet memories bring a smile to my lips. I remember the hearty chortles of my daughter, Ashley, that has melted many an ice cube, when moments of mothering, were too serious for words. Often, she has made me burst out laughing~with one of her hilarious remarks that seemed to come out of no where! I remember with relief, when the ice was broken in a strained moment, by laughter shared with my first date when I tried slicing a cheery tomato and it sprayed his tie (prior to the dance) with fresh cherry tomato juice. I remember him laughing it off, leaving me more than relieved.
I remember laughing at many a well-timed joke. Moment’s that might have otherwise been stiff and uncomfortable, when a mistake had been unintentionally made, magically turned a sad moment into a funny one. Steven, my twelve year old, is the best at this. He makes me laugh when I least expect it. His sense of humor is one of my choicest blissings. I remember those suppressed snickers during lengthy prayers when trying so hard to be enduringly reverent. I remember the infectious sound of my baby’s giggles that seemed to erupt from somewhere deep within them, sending me into a joyful moment when I could do nothing other them smother them with kisses and raspberries on their bellies. I remember the tee-hees of little school girls when we spied a boy we all wanted to impress. I remember the “twitters like birds” like the ones described in my favorite song in Mary Poppin’s, “I Love to Laugh!”
I recall a time when life seemed so very serious and I had forgotten how to laugh. I remember Dena, my Venezuelan friend teaching me in her beautiful accent, the difference between joy and sorrow when she said, “Life is full of “POC’s and POL’s”. When my children get mad at me, I simply smile and say, “POL: that’s part of life!” Or when one of her children is facing a challenge, she smiles and says, “POC: That’s a piece of cake!” Perhaps, as my daughter Lara suggested when I was forgetting to claim joy one depressing moment, “Laugh even when it’s not funny, Mom!” Even when life seems sullen, even a symbol such as this, : ) gently reminds me to LOL…Laugh out loud!” “Be of Good Cheer; for I have overcome the world” , Jesus often said to his disciples when they forgot that life is to be enjoyed, not just endured! “Man is that he might have joy!” We often remind ourselves~ but perhaps, it’s time to start taking that message a little more personally…“Woman is that she might have Joy too!” We came to this earth to taste the joy, to experience happiness, to celebrate the light, to dance in the moment and to sing a new song! I want to cherish the gift of Laughter more! I want a smile to anchor in from the depths of my own inner vessel more. I want to let my light so shine from deep down inside. I want to let humor shower itself like raindrops of sunlight bursting into my day. I am going to ask God Himself, to add to my five physical senses, yet one more. I am going to ask Him for a Divine Sense of Humor like His. I want an increased awareness of those cloudbursts of joy which can only come from heaven, Itself. I want to embrace the merry heart I had as a child. I want to restore the simple ease with which my own laughter used to ripple up from the “fountain of youth” within my heart.
When did I forget to laugh? When did I learn to suppress my joy? Who told me that life is no laughing matter? Who told me that raising teenagers is such a serious matter? Who told me that it’s not a beautiful thing to be silly in your forties? When did I stop dancing to the music at stop lights? Why did I stop toilet papering the neighbor’s house? Okay, perhaps, that is going a bit too far…but…I just want to know, Dear Lord, Who on earth told me that it’s not okay to be “The Laughing Child”? Who told me that when I grew up…I would have to put away the sweet, simplistic joys of the little girl who loved to laugh? And why~why on earth did I ever believe them? Being “serious” is a costume that I am ready to take off. I am stepping out of the shadows of forgetfulness. I think, somewhere along life’s path, I forgot my own, very merry heart. In the process of forgetting who I truly am, I forgot how easy it is to laugh! Somehow, in the thick and thin of things, I buried one of my greatest treasures deep down inside. Laughter is a gift we give ourselves~ especially when we learn to laugh…at ourselves!
The Son of God gives me, in this realization, Divine Permission to “Be of Good Cheer”. He says that a woman can be spiritually-minded and light-hearted at the same time! He is! What does it mean to be light-hearted? To have a heart that is full of Light, I presume. I claim the Gift of Good Cheer; even a Divine Sense of Humor. I see life through His merry eyes each time I look into my dear friend, Barb’s eyes. I remember the joy in laughter filled moments when all of my sisters are near!
I am so grateful for the blessing of laughter and for those beautiful loquacious sounds that serenade me daily, by my daughters, Ashley and Lara. I want to reclaim the gift of an infectious laugh to brighten the lives of my dear children, my family and friends. I want to appreciate more those blessed souls who make me laugh; our family dog when she plays with my son Michael, my friend’s cat, my client’s baby whose grin spreads from ear to ear each time I see her, my friend’s husband, my sisters, my mothers, my daughters, my sons… Most of all I want to learn to laugh more freely…in those moments when I stand in complete solitude gazing up at the Heavens wondering what on earth do I have to laugh about? Yes, I want to discover the sweet serendipity of more laughter-filled moments. I want to do more than remember the past joys, I want to write more humor into the lines of the present script! I want Humor to be a part of my future script! I remember the song I sang as a child, in the school talent show, “I love to laugh!” I didn’t win that talent show…and I went right on singing and laughing.
I want to laugh with God…above Anyone else…I want to hear the sound of His voice rippling from the innermost depths of His Being~a merry moment’s jubilee! I want to hear Him laugh with me and at me…I want to know that I am His Delightful Child…that I can amuse Him…and that for all of my weaknesses…making Him laugh and smile…shall one day become my greatest strength. Though I was punished, a little too severely for laughing out loud, as a six year old child, during the Easter film, I want now to reclaim that child and to behold the resurrection of joy upon her smiling countenance, as she witnesses the Son of God, cherishing her child-like merry heart and laughing with her. Sometimes, I am far too childish, I realize that. What I truly want, is to become as a little child, for I know that becoming as a “little child” is a prerequisite for entering the kingdom of heaven. I want to become more child-like. The door of the kingdom of heaven is quite small. You have to go through it upon bended knees. It’s the door to you heart of hearts. It’s the door to “The Cherishing Room”. Truly the Kingdom of Heaven is within you. I want to enter therein and sit upon God’s knee. I want to cup My Father’s face and trace his eyelashes with my dimpled fingers. I want to kiss His cheeks and wrap my little arms around His neck. I want to embrace the Father of My Spirit. I miss Him dearly. I want to laugh more with God…for He is the Father of My Spirit. I want to laugh more with the Savior…for He is My Elder Brother. I want to laugh and cry along with the Angels of Heaven and Earth… for they are God’s Own Children. Last but not least, I want to learn how to laugh…when times are trying. Laughter is a blessing in disguise. I want to laugh, even if I must laugh alone. I want to learn how to laugh when I am by, my very own Self. Slowly, I rub the sleep of forgetfulness from my eyes. I beginning to remember now, that deep down inside, I still am “The Laughing Child” . I remember, that it was He who gave me, my very own merry heart. It is He who knows how to fix it when it gets broken.
Karyn
