Laughter Truly is One of the Best Medicines!

           Last night, for various reasons, I did not sleep well and when this girl doesn’t get a good night’s rest, it is NOT a good thing. It throws my body and my emotions in to a mess to say the least. I needed to be up really early this morning to get some housework done and so that I could go to a doctor’s visit with Kenny. I was so tired, but more than that, my emotions were a bit out of sync. It’s a girl thing, you guys just might not be able to relate.

I drug myself out of bed and started the day. It was pretty quiet in the car on the way to his appointment. I tried to reflect on what I had read in my quiet time this morning before I left home, but my brain was just too tired to recall anything. We went into the doctor’s office and it was packed! It was almost standing room only. All I could think about was sitting in a room full of possibly sick people and that I wanted to douse myself with hand sanitizer!

The doctor was running about an hour behind. It’s funny how they have those little signs that tell us that if we are more than ten minutes late to an appointment, they will charge us or cancel our appointment, but it does not bother them to waste the patient’s time. Grumble, grumble! Finally, Kenny’s name was called and we were greeted by the friendliest nurse. She welcomed us with a huge smile and said a very nice “Good Morning”. I forced a smile and we followed her to the room where we would end up waiting a very long time. We could hear the doctor in the hallway for what seemed like forever discussing another patient’s poor fate openly with our door wide open, so much for patient privacy. His situation did not sound good. Poor fellow. (Not that we were listening..LOL!)

The doctor finally came in and delivered pretty good news. Most of Kenny’s tests were good. She did say the same thing that every doctor says to us at our age, “Cut fat intake and exercise more.” Did they really want our co-pay just for that advice?! Grumble, grumble again. We really like this doctor. It turns out that she is a real hoot.

While waiting for her, I was trying to finish up a biography that I’ve been reading for some time. It kept my attention, but did not really lighten my mood, but boy when she came into the room, something really unexpected happened. At some point between the discussions of fatty livers and high cholesterol, we got on the subject of cheese of all things. I mentioned that Kenny really loves Italian cheeses sprinkled on everything and that set her to talking about her husband. She explained that they had been married for 44 years and that since his retirement from the military, he has become her personal chef. She told us story after story about how he had rearranged her entire kitchen (in true military fashion)! Well, very unexpectedly, as the three of us laughed out loud for fifteen minutes or longer, the heaviness of my mood lifted. We laughed until I thought we’d all split a gut! At least if we had, we were at the right kind of doctor’s office – a gastroenterologist! J For once I can say that a doctor’s visit was enjoyable! She even told us that she had really enjoyed our visit too!

Well, I guess you wonder where this is all going…but if you know me well, you are used to that! Later when I got home, I re-read some things that I read this morning and came across the verse about laughter in Proverbs 17. In verse 22 it says, “A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.” I know this may be a stretch, but I believe that God knew that Kenny and I both needed that laughter. We left there and went into the drugstore and ran into one of our son’s friends. He had on the funniest Christmas hat and again, we shared laughter with him. Then, I had a brief phone call with an old friend and he made us laugh hysterically too! This verse really is so true in life!

           We have so much to be grateful for and the joy that God allows us in the small, silly things is just one of many things that I am thankful for. My spirit has been so much lighter since our visit to the doctor. What a pleasant surprise from the Lord. (And I do believe it was a gift of grace from Him today!)
         
          The one thing that all of us can be most thankful for is the reason for the current Christmas season. Our Lord came to the earth as a lowly human baby, God in the flesh, so that He could live and die for us that we might have salvation. That alone should cause us joy like nothing else in this world.
        
          This weekend our church, (Seaford Baptist) is putting on our annual Christmas musical. I’ve been a part of this for more than twenty years and this year, for many reasons I believe that it may be one of the most memorable, not only for me and my family, but for our church. If you have the time this weekend, please take some time off from the craziness of daily life and come to see the production. (Fri and Sat at 7 PM and Sunday at 6 PM) I promise you it will bless you if you come. Life is so short and this year I really want to spend more time laughing and enjoying life with family and friends and less time running at the speed of light to get things done. Won’t you join us for a little joy this weekend? I hope so! God bless you and thanks for reading.

“Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy; then they said among the nations, "The LORD has done great things for them. The LORD has done great things for us; we are glad.” Psalm 126:2-3

Holy Bible, English Standard Version (ESV)