Live, Love--Laugh!

One of Auntie's classic truisms was, "Life is too short--be happy!" That might be one of the reasons young people flocked to her. I know her upbeat spirit sure drew me! She had a je ne sais quoi way of injecting light into dark situations. Sometimes in somewhat unconventional ways. I remember a time ...

Whenever Auntie was asked to minister (interpret or speak) at La Manada Pequeña, our Mexico City home church, we were invited to stay at a certain doctor's home, where his son, our pastor, still lived. The family had a roomy two story home and every time we stayed with them we were graciously given the use of a downstairs suite that had its own bathroom.

One night, after the service, Auntie and I were getting ready for bed. I was in the bathroom, hair in curlers (this was the common torture used by young ladies in pre-electric-curling-iron days), wearing the handy dandy flannel nightgown Grandma had lovingly sewn for me, when I stepped to the side of the sink and crash! My foot went right through a rotten floorboard. As I gingerly tried to lift my leg out, a furry something ran by my foot. I screamed and yanked my appendage out of its trap in one fell swoop that left me with a smarting, nicely scraped thigh. It didn't take long to hear the pounding footsteps of someone flying down the stairs segue into frantic banging on our door.

"Hermana Trinie, Hermana Trinie, is everything all right?"

Auntie opened the door a bit and, after conferring with me (who was frantically gesturing to her NOT to let the young man in), let him know what had transpired (sans the owie on my leg), assuring him that all was well. The scream had been from being startled, not from anything more insidious (I wouldn't be the one to tell them about a rat!). With some reluctance, the young man of the house finally withdrew and we settled in for the night.

I did my best to act nonchalant, as if the episode was nothing, when in reality I was battling a deep sense of humiliation. While the young man had NOT seen my ridiculous-looking self (did I mention that the flannel Grandma used for my nightgown was covered with yellow, red, and blue circles that gave me the look of a veritable clown?), the near horror of his having almost seen me shook me to the core (oh, the silly vanity of youth!). Add to that the worry of how I was going to pay for the floor being fixed, and . . . I waited till I heard Auntie's breathing take on the even cadence of sleep. Then I let my feelings loose. I started crying (silently, I thought). And crying some more. Then sobbing. My body shook with the depth of my humiliation.

Apparently Auntie was not asleep. "Neenee, are you crying?"

With a sheepish voice I managed to croak out, "Yeeeees," before dissolving into another shuddering sob.

"But, darling, why? Everything is alright, it was just a little accident. Or are you hurt worse than you let on?"

Through broken sobs I assured her that the scrape was just that and no more, then added, "But I feel so crummy!"

Even as I cried I felt a little hope blossom in my breast that ever-uplifting Auntie would soon share an encouraging word that would put everything to rights. Ha! Instead . . .

After a short silence, I heard a little something. Then I saw a little something . . . was that something shaking in the darkness? What was Auntie doing? She wasn't laughing, was she ?????

"Auntie, are you laughing?" That's all it took for my self-pitying sobs to turn into righteous indignation.

That's when Auntie let her rip--she shook the bed with her guffaws. "You said you felt crummy and I had this vision of you as a pile of crumbs!" Then, as she tried in vain to control her laughing, "I'm sorry, Neenee, but the thought is simply too funny. You feel 'crumby!'"

Well! Auntie might not have built me up with her words that night, but her affront to my sensibilities dried up my tears but quick! Looking back, I can see how that was the best way to kick me out of my self-pity party! As counterintuitive as the technique seemed (laughing at the sticky situation), it did the trick. And pointed out a Holy-Ghost-inspired way to have victory over depression or any other negative feeling: by laughing. ( And in case you are wondering, the doctor did not expect monetary help for fixing the floor, in fact, just the opposite--the family felt terrible that their lack of maintenance had contributed to an accident that could have been much worse than it was.)

That was my first somewhat unconventional lesson in overcoming negativity through laughter! There have been others, like the following account shared by a friend.

This dear friend had what could have been an unnerving experience the day she first drove her husband's new truck to the post office. It was so big that she had a hard time aligning it inside the parking lines. She did the best she could then exited the vehicle. An older man drew up next to her and began haranguing her about her terrible parking. She tried to explain she had tried her best but unfortunately that only made him angrier! At this point, my friend had a choice: get mad, get depressed--or laugh. She chose to laugh. And, again unfortunately, the more she laughed the redder and angrier the gentleman got. What could she do? She just went on about her business, leaving him to his angry misery.

"Janine," she told me, "what was I to do? I apologized, but that was the best I could park. What did the man expect me to do if I couldn't do better?"

I applaud my friend. She wasn't making fun of the angry man, but neither was she going to let his anger ruin her day. Scripture says, "This is the day the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it"(Psalm 118:24).

It's a given that at some point in life you will rub elbows with bullies who will want to make your life miserable if you don't kowtow to their wishes. Rest assured that their way is not God's will for your life. He wants you joyful! It's not always easy not to let someone's ugliness rub off on your life, but it is possible. In Jesus. Psalms 2:4 says, "He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh." While that reference is to the Lord, Ephesians 2:4-6 says that we are seated "together in heavenly places in Christ." In Christ, we are in heaven! We can laugh at situations that ruffle our feathers because in Christ we will have the victory!

As great as these words are to live by, sometimes it "ain't" so easy. That's when we have to take the bull by the horns and, as Grandma Muse used to say, choose to be happy. Life is not easy, but, she told me more than once, "A person can be as happy as he or she chooses to be." We always have a choice. No matter how bad things get, we can rejoice because we have Jesus. His love. His salvation. His hope for a better tomorrow.

"Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labor of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls. yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation" (Habakkuk 3:17-18).

So the next time life throws you a curve ball, try Auntie's tried and true recipe--laugh it up!

"Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice" (Philippians 4:4).