Last year, I was watching Jesus Christ Superstar and I had to stop. Jesus seemed so angry and so severe. I had a hard time with it. I had a teacher who told me that there would be no laughter in Heaven because laughter was always at someone else's expense.
Then I read this book called Between Heaven and Mirth and it's about the jokes that Jesus said, jokes that we would NEVER get (you know, being so removed from 1st Century Palestine and all) and how there are so many books about Jesus and laughter. And I remember talking to a friend and I told him about Jesus jokes and he literally looked like he'd dropped a load of bricks and said, "That's a relief."
We've become accustomed to a serious faith and faith should be serious. But I keep running across the thought that some of the most faithful people were the most joyful people! There is a story that a man walked into a Trappist monastery where Thomas Merton (a very famous monk in the 20th century) was and couldn't guess who he was. In fact, Thomas Merton was the person who the man thought was LEAST likely to be Thomas Merton because he was laughing and seemed so JOYFUL.
I have been praying for a little boy and I did not know his name. And so I left it to God to know. Then, Baby Be Blessed had his name up for their Yay Free Friday giveaway. I didn't want to join the contest, so I went to post on the comments section, but it had been disabled. So I posted on the link, I said that I didn't want to enter the contest, but I felt moved because I had been praying for this little boy without ever knowing his name.
I get an e-mail today from Tina who runs Baby Be Blessed and who knows me somewhat well through e-mail and she said that she smiled when she read the comment that said that I wasn't entering the contest and then, when she saw it was from ME, she was beaming from ear to ear.
No one can ever tell me that God doesn't have a sense of humor. From things like this to the platypus, I know He's just laughing up a storm up there.
Then I read this book called Between Heaven and Mirth and it's about the jokes that Jesus said, jokes that we would NEVER get (you know, being so removed from 1st Century Palestine and all) and how there are so many books about Jesus and laughter. And I remember talking to a friend and I told him about Jesus jokes and he literally looked like he'd dropped a load of bricks and said, "That's a relief."
We've become accustomed to a serious faith and faith should be serious. But I keep running across the thought that some of the most faithful people were the most joyful people! There is a story that a man walked into a Trappist monastery where Thomas Merton (a very famous monk in the 20th century) was and couldn't guess who he was. In fact, Thomas Merton was the person who the man thought was LEAST likely to be Thomas Merton because he was laughing and seemed so JOYFUL.
I have been praying for a little boy and I did not know his name. And so I left it to God to know. Then, Baby Be Blessed had his name up for their Yay Free Friday giveaway. I didn't want to join the contest, so I went to post on the comments section, but it had been disabled. So I posted on the link, I said that I didn't want to enter the contest, but I felt moved because I had been praying for this little boy without ever knowing his name.
I get an e-mail today from Tina who runs Baby Be Blessed and who knows me somewhat well through e-mail and she said that she smiled when she read the comment that said that I wasn't entering the contest and then, when she saw it was from ME, she was beaming from ear to ear.
No one can ever tell me that God doesn't have a sense of humor. From things like this to the platypus, I know He's just laughing up a storm up there.
Laughter is one of the greatest blessings that God gave us. :) Love you!!
ReplyDeleteThis is a great post thankks
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