Laughter

So what makes you laugh?  Little babies giggling?  Jokes by your favorite comedian?  Life's little unexpected encounters?  Or maybe another question I should ask is do you even laugh?  I think many times the weight of the world seems to be on our shoulders and it is very hard for us to see the humor in much of anything.  Laughter is important it is a good stress reliever for one.  It helps breaks up the tension within us.  Believe it or not it is biblical.  This week when we look at Genesis Chapters 18-21, we find a story about a relationship that has gone south between Abraham and Sarah.  The two of them were not speaking to each other because in essence they had tried to hurry a promise of God up with disastrous consequences.  Some Holy visitors came to Abraham one day and told him that he had Sarah were going to see the fulfillment of God's promise for them to have a son, next year.  Sarah laughed at this because she was too old to have a baby; her relationshp with Abraham was in tatters; and God promise had the scent of a wet sock to her.  This laugh was not a good belly laugh, it was a cynical laugh.  God called her on the laugh and said in effect that I, God, honor my promises.  Then the impossible happened just like God promised.  Sarah and Abraham had a little boy who they named Isaac, which means laughter.  Sarah realized at this point that God does honor God's promises and that it is foolish to be carrying all this stress.  She laughed and felt the release of the tension within her, all the pressure that had been consuming her.  Sarah also learned that laughter leads to something even more important and that is trusting God.  Believe it or not God wants the best for us.  So why do we contiually keep all the stress and anxiety ontop of our shoulders?  Why don't we trust God to help us with it?  I think it comes back to control. As much as we think we can control our lives we can't.  When we trust God, when we begin to laugh, we realize that we are not in control but God is.  Then the pressure is off and we can breathe again. We can live to our true potential.  So what do you need to give God control around?  What do you need to laugh at instead of stress out about?