Proverbs 17:22 (NIV)
A cheerful heart is good medicine,
but a crushed
spirit dries up the bones.
"She who laughs, lasts." At least that was
Theresa of Avila's philosophy. Theresa, a Spanish nun who founded the reformed
order of the Carmelites in 1562 used to look for novices who knew how to laugh,
eat and sleep. She believed that if they ate heartily they were healthy, if
they slept well they were more than likely free of serious sin, and if they
laughed, they had the necessary disposition to survive a difficult life.
Abraham Lincoln must have also known that laughter is
good medicine. In writing about Lincoln's Civil War years, author Richard
Hanser says that on September 22, 1862, the War Cabinet was summoned to the
White House for a special session. Lincoln was reading a book as everyone came
in. Secretary of War Stanton later said this of the meeting:
"Finally the president turned to us and said,
'Gentlemen, did you ever read anything of Artimus Ward? Let me read a chapter
that is very funny.'"
The president then read aloud a skit called
"Highhanded Outrage at Utica." Stanton was furious, but Lincoln read
on and, at the end, he laughed heartily. "Gentlemen," he asked,
"why do you not laugh? With the fearful strain that is upon me day and
night, if I did not laugh, I should die. And you need this medicine as much as
I do." It was at this same session that the president pulled a paper from
his tall hat and read aloud the now immortalized Emancipation Proclamation.
He's right -- we may likely die without frequent and
sustained doses of laughter. After all, they who laugh, last.
Dear Lord, help us to see the good things in life and
face them with laughter. In Jesus’ name,
Amen.
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