To laugh is to change the way you live
By Stephan Joubert
Let’s face it: children are much more adventurous than most grown-ups. They learn at least nine impossible things before nine o clock every morning, as the Queen famously said in Alice in Wonderland. But there’s good news for grown-ups too, since we still possess the built-in capacity to do just that! New studies show that we all have been physiologically hot-wired to show empathy (cf. Daniel J. Siegel, 2007. The Mindful Brain, pp. 164-188). We all have a basic instinct for compassion. We possess the internal circuitry for empathy. We can know, experience and empathetically respond to others’ pain and needs. This is how God created us. We were born with the capacity to love as part of our DNA.
God delivered us to his world with an inner readiness and a capacity to learn; to get in touch with the feelings of others around us and to be full of joy. He placed his DNA in all of us, as 1 John 3:9 tells us. But sadly, we live in a broken world. We were contaminated with UNgrace and sin long before we were even aware of it. The rest is history! No, wait, the rest isn’t the full story. We can grow back to our true selves, to the way God originally created us.
How? Well, amongst others, we deliberately need to fill our lives with the joy of the Lord. We need to laugh, sing and celebrate his goodness every day. At the same time we must deliberately do good things for others in the Name of Jesus. We must intentionally hand out cups of cold water, carry burdens, encourage, comfort and bless others before bedtime every evening.
According to Czerner (What Makes You Tick? The Brain in Plain English, 2002): ‘The brain needs to see a happy face and to hear occasional laughter to cement its neural circuitry. In other words, true joy is brain cement. It is also soul food and instant fertiliser for our heads. A life of joy is the will of God. We have forgotten what Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18: “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”
It’s not a sentimental remark that the shortest distance between two people is a smile. It’s the truth, actually. We were born to be caring, kind people. Let’s fulfil God’s plan for our lives then by becoming our original selves again. Let’s also laugh more, since ‘laughter is the sun that drives winter from the human face,’ as Victor Hugo said.