Picture Taken In Budapest This Winter.
I value humour above just about every other personality trait when it comes tofamily, friends and staff. You can't work at my office if you aren't really good at laughing :)
Fun and funny. They are etymologically inseperable.
Not only is laughter biblically mandated. I believe the healthiest and holiest people are the people who laugh at themselves the most. And I afraid there isn't enough humour in the average church.
There is a fascinating study in Psychology Today on humour. They identified four types of humour: Put-Down Humour, Bonding Humour, Hate-me Humour, and Laughing at Life.
Put-down humour is unhealthy, but we ought to cultivate the other three types.
Bonding humour is laughing at the challenges all of us face. It is the ability to defuse a situation or reduce tension by finding something funny to laugh at. There have been times in meetings when sparks would fly because the air got so tense that I had to find a way to crack the right joke just to disarm the situation.
Hate-me Humour is making yourself the butt of your own jokes. You can take this too far, but this type of humour is also a form of humility. You don't take yourself too seriously.
Laughing at life is the ability to cope with life's challenges via laughing at them. I think this is the only way to survive some situations. You just have to laugh. Faith in God often gives one the ability to just laugh at life.
I think most of us underestimate the spirituality of laughter. I honestly believe it is part of being made in the image of God. Sure, hyennas cackle. But true laughter is unique to the human race. It is a God-given gift that ought to be cultivated to its God-given potential.
I have enjoyed my children's laughter since they were chuckling infants. I still love to hear them laugh. I believe our Heavenly Father is no different. God loves our laughter.
Just laugh a lot. And laugh out loud!
