November 23, 2004

[Rev. Doc]

Laughter

"Be joyful always;"
I Thessalonians 5:16

Laughter is an extension of joy. It has the ability to bring serenity to one's heart and mind.

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.

Prayer: Ask God to help you laugh, bringing joy to yourself and others.

"While the average child laughs 150 times a day, say researchers at the University of Michigan, the average adult laughs only 15 times."
~Youth Worker Update