While I often set out to offer a bit of wisdom in these ponderings, there are times when I am simply moved to write about something I have seen or heard. Other times I try to offer some teaching that, in the end, offers us hope or reminds us of the abundance of God’s love available to each of us. But this week I thought I would share my opinion with you. Keep in mind that this is just an opinion…there is no science to back up my words. What I present here is just one man’s humble opinion. Put another way, ignoring the coin shortage, let me offer my two cents worth.

As I look around, during these COVID days I cannot help but be saddened by the reality that one of the major casualties of this pandemic has been humor. It just seems to me that we are not laughing as much as we used to. Of course, a pandemic is a serious thing. On top of this add all the other things we have to worry about, and we may just ask ourselves over and over again what is there to laugh about. But the fact of the matter is that there is a lot to laugh about.

If we do not take ourselves too seriously, we can always laugh at ourselves. We can laugh at the blunders we make as we try to be perfect. We can laugh with our friends who just know what they need to say or do to tickle our funny bones. We can laugh with a good book or a funny TV show or movie. We can recall, with a smile, an event from our past, something that happened with our children, our grandchildren, or even with our long-suffering spouse. We can laugh when, for the third time, we have to pick up the tomato plant blown over by the wind as we think to ourselves, how many times will this happen before I move this plant to a safer spot. We can even laugh at Satan when he tries to convince us that there is no reason to laugh.

There are indeed serious things going on in our world and in our lives; things that need our time and attention. There are things that we need to prepare for and there are even things we need to worry about for a while. There are scary things and things that cause anxiety occupying much of our time and our brain power. But much of what is going on in our world and in our own lives is beyond our control. We can do what we can to keep ourselves safe and healthy but unless we can come up with the vaccine for the COVID virus, or figure out a way to meet the needs of every single person in the world we most likely will never know a day without some worry.

So, what are we to do? We do what we can. We follow the rules for being healthy and we make sure we do what we can to ensure others are healthy. We pray and we lean on our faith. We lean heavily on our faith knowing that Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are right here with us. And we laugh.

Laughter is medicine for the body, mind and soul. It heals what ails us, when done deeply it cleanses us, and when done often it enlightens us to see the good all around us. Laughter helps us to see that hardship and struggle are simply temporary parts of life that we must endure so that we can experience the joy of never-ending happiness.

So, as we continue to muddle through the muck and mess of this difficult moment, on our way to holy and extraordinary, let us remember the observation of Charles Dickens, “There is nothing in the world so irresistibly contagious as laughter and good humor.”