Laughter is a gift.

Even when we hurt, and it’s hard. 

“To every thing there is a season, 

and a time to every purpose under the heaven…

A time to weep, and a time to laugh;

A time to mourn, and a time to dance.”

Ecclesiastes 3:1, 4

You see, just eleven months earlier, I sat in the corner of my mother’s guest bedroom in Rossville, Georgia, knees drawn up, staring straight ahead at the wall. Word had come that my husband had committed suicide. Two hours passed, and I sat in silence, stunned, and unable to shed a tear. 

Then, my brother-in-law, who had been working on a lay missions project some distance away, came into the room. When I say Phil is big and burly, I am not exaggerating. He has had two nicknames given lovingly to him through the years — “Rock of Ages” and “Ox.” Get the picture?

But his heart is just as big, and you can’t help but feel safe when he is near. 

Without saying a word, he walked over and sat down right beside me on the floor and encircled me with muscled arms and understanding. 

That’s when I finally cried.  

When the tears momentarily dried, we leaned back in silence, one of his thickset arms protectively around my shoulders. I don’t know how long we sat there, but eventually, I could bear it no longer.

“Phil,” I said, “I love you, but your arm is killing me.”

And we laughed. Right there, for the briefest of seconds, amid the worst news either of us had ever received—we laughed. 

A few days later, as I tried to begin to make sense of what had happened, a close family friend asked if there had even been one slight moment of reprieve from my agony. I thought of that moment sitting on the floor with Phil, laughing because of his heavy arm. I told him that, yes, I had laughed.

“Then you will be all right,” he said.

I don’t know if there is any scientific research to back up his premise, but I know that the Bible says, “A merry heart does good, like medicine, but a broken spirit dries the bones” (Proverbs 17:22, NKJV), and that is good enough for me.

That small moment of laughter didn’t make everything all right. And, that sister’s vacation was not all smiles. 

The truth is, it was a terribly hard week. 

           A sad week because life would never be the same again, 

                          A heavy week because we knew a long and difficult goodbye was coming,

                                          A painful week because we couldn’t get away from the reason we hurt. 

And yet, despite all of that, what we remember most about that trip today is the laughter.