Healing Laughter - February 8, 2009

Good Sunday morning! You get a devotional this morning while I worship at home. My tum-tum hurt much of the night and the writing might be a bit sleep-deprived this morning. A minister this morning has already told me that I don't laugh enough. He could be right, my physical hurts of the night and morning might be from worry. When we get together we should be serious about sin, but perhaps we don't need to remain serious all the time. The same goes for this devotional. I'm sorry, but I don't remember jokes well. That seems to be a gift that I do not have. However, that does not mean that I cannot write with humor. We do seem to have a quandary though: how does one laugh to feel better when it is the feeling bad that prevents the laughter in the first place? :-) Now that's funny!

After 9/11 the security at airports became a very serious business. An offhand joke at the security checkpoint might cause you to miss your flight or even end up in jail these days. Back in the day when I traveled a lot in my work, I purchased a black carry-on type bag with a lot of pockets. This bag even then virtually guaranteed a thorough check. One particularly flight out of the Milwaukee airport, I laid the "bomber" bag as we came to call it on the conveyor. This bag was wider than it was tall and I naturally plopped it on the line with the handles up. The screener stopped the conveyor and commanded me to lay the bag "flat". This confused me to no end and I tried to flatten the bag as much as possible. She started the conveyor, stopped it and repeated the command, "lay the bag flat!" Still confused, I mushed the bag down even more. Start, stop... same command. Finally, I threw all sense out the window and stood the bag up on its side. Satisfied, she let the bag go into the machine, wobbling all the way through. Years later I still laugh at that story. The more she said 'flat' the more I tried to flatten the bag, all to no avail. I wonder if anyone in line behind me thought it was so humorous? :-)

Life is full of humorous contradictions. Along with my treasure hunt for "don't be afraid" in the Bible, let me see what I can find that is funny. As a morning person, I laughed at this one the first time I read it; If you shout a pleasant greeting to your neighbor too early in the morning, it will be counted as a curse! Proverbs 27:14

Have a joyous day in Christ and remember to laugh!

Bucky