Laugh a Lot!

Mark Twain once said, “Be careful of reading health books. You may die of a misprint.”

I loved to hear my mom chortle. Maybe because it meant she would be more amiable to my requests, or perhaps because she laughed so well. I could always tell when she was talking on the phone to her friend Bonnie because the sounds of Mom’s laughter would skip down the halls of our home and fill the air with joy. Many times as a kid I would hear her laughter from another room, even through I had no idea what was so funny, I would laugh too. It just seemed that when Mom laughed, the day was brighter and my heart was lighter.

Laughter is not only positive but also powerful. Along with being a magnet that draws others in, it serves as medication for our interior lives. That cancer wards incorporate laugh clinics into hospitals ought to tell us a great deal. Our shared laughter makes even enemies friends, if only for a moment. Our world could use a good dose of friendly!

What did you last laugh about?

20 Comments

  1. Danya on May 17, 2011 at 10:22 am

    My kids, especially my youngest provide us with daily laughs! I need to start writing down all of the funny things he says!

  2. Kathleen on May 17, 2011 at 10:26 am

    My two granddaughters provide me with much material to laugh at. The yougest is just 16 months and they do the funniest things sometimes!

  3. Vonda on May 17, 2011 at 10:31 am

    I am a nurse and of all the medicines I have administered to people, laughter is the best for sure!!!!

  4. Birgit on May 17, 2011 at 10:41 am

    I laughed hard at last Sunday nights church leadership meeting. A 4 yr old boy
    Ran in holding a stuffed banana in one hand and himself in the other saying to his
    Mom, “I have to go!”

  5. Julie on May 17, 2011 at 12:11 pm

    There’s nothing better than a good belly laugh…except laughing with friends.

  6. Sandy on May 17, 2011 at 1:53 pm

    Before I worked in our church, I use to think our pastors walked around all day like monks with their hands folded in prayer. Boy was I wrong. They can be some of the craziest pranksters ever. One pastor wrote on the men’s room mirror…”Objects in mirror are stupider than they appear”. No one ever found out who did it… but we have our suspicions.

  7. Becky W. on May 17, 2011 at 1:56 pm

    It’s so easy to forget that we are created in God’s image, and that He loves to laugh with us! I imagine that Jesus laughed a lot (he had a reputation as a partyer). I find something to laugh at every day!

  8. Paula on May 17, 2011 at 1:59 pm

    I work at a church that was robbed last night. One of the odd things taken was some anointing oil from one of the pastors’ offices. Much later I noticed a package of diet brownie bites was taken from my office. I told the pastor and he said they needed the extra energy so they could go around anointing people. It cracked me up and it was a welcome laugh after a stressful morning talking to police and insurance and assessing damages/taking inventory.

  9. Barbara Thayer on May 17, 2011 at 5:38 pm

    I had a good laugh today at the office. My co-worker was going to put up a sign about deliveries to our office and instead of spelling it correctly….she had in bold type:
    DEVERIES. I looked at the sign twice and burst into laughter. She is a fun loving soul so we both enjoyed the moment together! God made laughter to soothe our aching hearts and souls. I am so glad He did. Thank you Patsy!

  10. Roberta on May 17, 2011 at 6:00 pm

    Look to find the laughter in each day….first it was because my parents started packing and shopping for the vacation in JULY….then I had a good laugh at myself for getting tangled in my own words….I would be available at 10 “O” 10…..Oh yeah…I can tell time…Find something to make you laugh…you will feel so much better!

  11. Debbie Barnett on May 17, 2011 at 10:19 pm

    Such encouragement – I can only hope for an infectious laugh like your mom had… what a gift.

  12. Christell Tallent on May 17, 2011 at 10:24 pm

    Driving to my daughters softball game…we were listening to the radio…we were trying to decide between two Christian stations…one a major staion that quips itself “positive and encouraging” the other station is a new local startup…their motto is “positive and uplifting”… My 10 year old daughter bursts out laughing and says, “they totally ripped that saying off…they changed one word! I’m just a kid and I know that is like plagiarism or something!” it was so stinkin’ funny to hear my daughter so outraged…and funny all at the same time. We laughed for the entire trip to the ball diamonds….and again today as I shared the story with my husband and best friend over lunch. What a funny kid we have!

  13. Benita Teems on May 17, 2011 at 10:27 pm

    I love to laugh! It feels so good. Thanks for sharing this, Patsy.

  14. Susan DeFrancisco on May 17, 2011 at 10:32 pm

    I laugh ALL of the time…I guess I just find humor in life…like today, I woke up to my cat with his head, upside down, peaking out from under the covers…and then, tonight when I posted a funny pic of a dog, and asked for comments…oh man…you cant imagine what people said…the other day I WENT OT VISIT MY PARENTS, WHO ARE IN THIER 80’S NOW, AND WE STARTED MAKING FUNNY FACES, AND LAUGHED SO HARD i THINK ALL THREE OF US NEARLY WET OUR PANTS…

  15. A M Davis on May 17, 2011 at 11:08 pm

    My last biggest laugh was listening to you at WOF!

  16. Shelia on May 18, 2011 at 6:27 am

    Have you ever watched Bill Cosby Himself? It’s a really old video of his stand-up routine. The language is colorful at times, but he takes ordinary things we can all relate to and makes them hysterical. Here’s the thing, much as Cosby makes me laugh, listening to my husband laugh at it is even funnier. He gets to this point where he can hardly breathe. Then, it doesn’t even matter what Bill Cosby is saying any more. It’s funny. 🙂

    • Coleen Jordain on May 18, 2011 at 12:05 pm

      Bill Cosby “Himself” I watched that the day before I went into labor with my now 18yr old son.. I do believe that is what put me into labor!! That is the funniest video EVER!! LOL

  17. Coleen Jordain on May 18, 2011 at 12:11 pm

    I sometimes laugh hardest at my self.. sometimes I just do something and it makes me laugh for a long time afterwards..

    Other times.. Ken Davis on the ride home from work.. he’s a riot.. reading any of Patsy’s books.. I hear her voice (because I am a WOF regular attender lol) telling the story and I just love Patsy’s humor.. and all the WOF team.. wanna laugh.. go to that conference EVERYTIME IT’S IN TOWN!! lol My son is another one who cracks me up… I only get to see him once in a while anymore (he lives 3 hrs away and is now a working boy.. well if 18 is a boy.. ) but our rides together are awesome …

  18. Wendy on May 19, 2011 at 10:32 am

    Research shows that children laugh hundreds of times a day. Adults…low teens. Laugh a lot like children! 🙂

  19. Jessica on July 26, 2011 at 11:42 pm

    The adventures and bumps in the road we’ve had since my mom came home from the hospital after she fell and broke her hip. I think we all figured out pretty quick that we could that we could either be sad, scared, worried, anxious, selfish…or we could we could be a family, work hard together, celebrate small victories, and laugh with each other.

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