Are You Generous?
Generosity practiced will change your life. Check out myt latest teaching on becoming generous.
I Am SVA – Conversation 3: I Am Generous from Snoqualmie Valley Alliance on Vimeo.
Laughter can lift the crushed soul and help dissipate the darkness of sadness. Laughter is a powerful prayer, because it defies the thought that pain and sadness always win. Some of my deepest laughs have found birth in the dark night of the soul, which was both a surprise and a blessing. But for too long, Christianity has been the “laugh-less” religion. Jesus has been seen as a “serious,” deity with furrowed brows etching caverns of displeasure across His face. Or perhaps He has been viewed as a “humorless,” deity that tut-tuts the lighter side of life and has no time for levity. Look at all the early paintings and images of Christ and He does not look like He is enjoying life. Unfortunately, this has seeped into the DNA of a movement and needs to come to light in order to unleash the joy that Jesus died for. But in truth, the converse is reality…Jesus was full of life, love, levity and laughter.
Can you imagine the creative agency that fashioned the earth and imagined the platypus never cracked a smile?
Can you imagine that Jesus’ cultural tattoo of “a friend of sinners and a glutton” could have been earned by someone who did not engage in the fun of the people he was branded with?
Can you sense the hilarity behind the translation when Jesus said, “Hey before you judge other people, consider their sin as a sliver you are trying to remove while at the same time admitting the sin in your own life is like a log in your eye!”
It has been stated many times that Jesus’ humor gets lost in translation, and this is true. The Hebraisms and the out right funny sayings of Jesus lose their edge when we translate from Aramaic, Greek and Hebrew to English. I am thankful for translators that unearth His linguistically sharp humor, and allow Jesus to show some of His hilarity.
In Genesis, when Abraham and Sarah find out that they are going to have a baby in their advanced years, Sarah laughs…and then the baby is named Isaac which means “he laughs.”
Have you ever noticed that when you smile, you have a bio-chemical reaction that changes the way you feel? Try it right now, no one is looking…take a full, deep breath and smile from your liver to the creases in your eyes.
We need to laugh more…
We need to smile from our soul…
We need to breathe in the pleasure, beauty and grace of God while we exhale anything that robs us of the joy and freedom Christ offers.
Here are some great quotes I have on laughing, or laughter…read them, smile and find something to laugh at, you’ll live longer and find more beauty in the midst of a biting reality.
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“Laughter is America’s most important export.” ~ Walt Disney Company
“If we couldn’t laugh we would all go insane.” ~Robert Frost
“I don’t trust anyone who doesn’t laugh.” ~Maya Angelou
“The earth laughs in flowers.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
“There is nothing in the world so irresistibly contagious as laughter and good humor.” ~ Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol
“The human race has only one really effective weapon and that is laughter.” ~ Mark Twain
“If you wish to glimpse inside a human soul and get to know a man, don’t bother analyzing his ways of being silent, of talking, of weeping, of seeing how much he is moved by noble ideas; you will get better results if you just watch him laugh. If he laughs well, he’s a good man.” ~ Fyodor Dostoyevsky
“Laughter is carbonated holiness.” ~ Anne Lamott
“A strange thing happened to me in my dream. I was rapt into the Seventh Heaven. There sat all the gods assembled. As a special dispensation I was granted the favor to have one wish. “Do you wish for youth,” said Mercury, “or for beauty, or power, or a long life; or do you wish for the most beautiful woman, or any other of the many fine things we have in our treasure trove? Choose, but only one thing!” For a moment I was at a loss. Then I addressed the gods in this wise: “Most honorable contemporaries, I choose one thing — that I may always have the laughs on my side.” Not one god made answer, but all began to laugh. From this I concluded that my wish had been granted and thought that the gods knew how to express themselves with good taste: for it would surely have been inappropriate to answer gravely: your wish has been granted.” ~Søren Kierkegaard
“As soap is to the body, so laughter is to the soul.” ~ Jewish Proverb
“He that is of a merry heart has a continual feast.” ~ Proverbs 15:15
“Laughter is the sun that drives winter from the human face.” ~ Victor Hugo
“Laughter is the foundation of reconciliation.” ~ St. Francis de Sales
“Laughter connects you with people. It’s almost impossible to maintain any kind of distance or any sense of social hierarchy when you’re just howling with laughter. Laughter is a force for democracy.” ~ John Cleese
“On average, an infant laughs nearly two hundred times a day; an adult, only twelve. Maybe they are laughing so much because they are looking at us. To be able to preserve joyousness of heart and yet to be concerned in thought: in this way we can determine good fortune and misfortune on earth, and bring to perfection everything on earth.” ~ I Ching
“I believe that imagination is stronger than knowledge. That myth is more potent than history. That dreams are more powerful than facts. That hope always triumphs over experience. That laughter is the only cure for grief. And I believe that love is stronger than death.” ~Robert Fulghum
“Laughter is an instant vacation.” ~Milton Berle
“Laughter gives us distance. It allows us to step back from an event, deal with it and then move on.” ~Bob Newhart
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Laughter has health benefits too, for example: (from help-guide)
Authors Melinda Smith M.A and Jeanne Segal Ph.D note the following tips to help bring more laughter to your daily life:
So, laugh until your belly hurts and then just a little bit more!
I entered another powerful moment during some meditation time this week while going through Jesus Calling. The small devotional thought did a good job of reminding where abundances not only comes from, but what it is. We equate abundance with stuff, things & wealth…when it is really far beyond such tangible and temporal things. Take a moment and slowly chew on the following:
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Fear of man will prove to be a snare,
but whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe Proverbs 29:25
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. John 10:10
Living in dependence on Me is the way to enjoy abundant life. You are learning to appreciate tough times, because they amplify your awareness of My Presence. Tasks that you used to dread are becoming rich opportunities to enjoy My closeness. When you feel tired, you remember that I am your Strength; you take pleasure in leaning on Me. I am pleased by your tendency to turn to Me more and more frequently, especially when you are alone.
When you are with other people, you often lose sight of My Presence. Your fear of displeasing people puts you in bondage to them, and they become your primary focus. When you realize that this has happened, whisper My Name; this tiny act of trust brings Me to the forefront of your consciousness, where I belong. As you bask in the blessing of My nearness, My life can flow through you to others. This is abundant life!
*taken from the book Jesus Calling by Sarah Young*