Laughter, the Great Preventative & Healer

Jesus was both divine and human, with all the emotions we have. Many of them are recorded in the Scriptures for us. His righteous anger is recorded as He entered the Temple in John 2:14, His sadness in Luke 19:41, His joy in Hebrews 12:2 (“For the joy set before Him he endured the cross…”), and I’m sure laughter (see Proverbs 17:22).   Consider how the Son of God might have humanly chuckled when those at the Cana wedding in John 2 discovered that the water was now the finest wine.

Those emotions are the same ones we have, and while psychologists can’t pinpoint the exact number we have, Robert Plutchick has said that there are more than 90 possible permutations from the basic six (or seven). Most women can identify the majority of them, but men tend to see very few – most likely 2 to 4.

In the 70’s Norman Cousins who had a career as journalist, activist and medical researcher had been diagnosed with heart disease leading to a quick terminal prognosis. Because of his research on emotions he rented movies like those from the Marx Brothers as he lay in the hospital.

“I made the joyous discovery that ten minutes of genuine belly laughter had an anesthetic effect and would give me at least two hours of pain-free sleep,” “When the pain-killing effect of the laughter wore off, we would switch on the motion picture projector again and not infrequently, it would lead to another pain-free interval.”

Cousins lived decades beyond what his physicians had told him possible, and credited it all to Laughter and Vitamin C. Here are some of the ways that humor and laughter can help restore and heal our body and soul.

• Combats fear
• Comforts us
• Helps us relax
• Reduces Pain
• Connects us to others
• Boosts the immune system
• Protects the heart
• Reduces stress
• Spreads happiness
• Cultivates optimism
• Helps communication
• Restores hope
• Improves brain function
• Lowers blood pressure

 How then can we incorporate more laughter into our marriage.   One way I’ve talked about in our monthly letter before is having a regular “Date Night”, that is just about fun. There are countless other ways, that genuinely bring us to the point of laughter – movies, books new and old by humorists, YouTube – and I’ve noticed that sharing life stories with friends can often be hilarious, bringing true belly laughs.   I too frequently find it better than medication for relieving pain.

I often try to wrap up my day with a half hour of old comedies on one of the old television series channels. You’ll have to find the ones that hit your funny button, but there are many to choose from – and if you record them, you can watch them when you need a good chuckle.

Your Marriage Ministry takes laughter seriously – really!  This Friday evening we host our quarterly Date Night for couples, which is why our May letter comes to you early. You plan where you’ll go for the evening and we’ll provide you with some fun things to do on your date. If you have children who normally make it impossible to get out on a date with your spouse, we’ll even take care of them for 3 hours (5:15 to 8:30) here on the Shea campus.   You must register quickly as we need to know how many childcare workers we need on Friday.

We follow up Date Night with a special DVD series on Wednesday evenings on our Mountain Valley campus with Mark Gungor. (click here for a preview), then go to the information below to register. I guarantee you will find some wonderfully deep belly laughs listening to his “Laugh Your Way to a Better Marriage”.   This series begins on May 13, from 6:30 to 8:00, and again it’s at the Mountain Valley campus (17800 N Perimeter Drive, Scottsdale, 85255) – with the closing of the Shea worship center later in May, it’s the opportunity to check out our newest campus, and possibly worship on Sundays with Neil and his team.