Laughter is serious business!

My pastor forwarded an online article from Christianity Today that was really good: Carbonated Holiness by Carolyn Arends. It was a great reminder that sometimes laughter really is the best medicine. Midway through the article Carolyn says: A good laugh is a release—even if only for a moment—from worry, strife, and self. It is a sudden, often unbidden confession that someway, somehow, all is well, or at least there is a hope that it can be.
How true is that!?! I think especially recently I've really appreciated what brief reprises that I've been given. Maybe thats why I like comedies so much - we get a genuine release from the laughter that comes with watching a good comedy!
Carolyn also told a story about her family: When our kids were toddlers, my husband, Mark, and I would twirl and spin them until they were helpless with laughter so hard it was soundless, and then we would laugh at them laughing until we were all worn out with gladness. If we'd have thought of it, we could have quoted the psalmist as we held our aching sides on the family room floor: "Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy. … The LORD has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy" (Ps. 126:2–3).
In the last week or so (especially the last few days) Joe has been much more responsive, babbling, smiling and laughing alot. It has been such a blessing to see such innocent expressions of joy in our special little boy.