Times to Laugh

“God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me.” Genesis 21:6

Kids are a wellspring of humor if you look for it. For instance, there was the mother who was making phone calls in the family room while her three-year-old daughter and five-month-old son played together. Suddenly the mother realized that the kids were gone. Panic-stricken, she raced down the hall and around the corner, where she found them playing cheerfully. Relieved but upset, she shouted, “Adrianne, you know you are not allowed to carry Nathan! He is too little—you could hurt him if he fell!”

Startled, Adrianne answered, “I didn’t, Mommy.” Knowing that Nathan couldn’t crawl, the mother demanded, “Well, then, how did he get all the way into your room?” Confident of her mother’s approval, Adrianne smiled and said proudly, “I rolled him!”

This story reminds us that when King Solomon began his quest to discover the meaning of life, he believed that laughter was “foolish” (Ecclesiastes 2:2). But when he investigated further, he realized that God orders all things according to His purposes—that there is “a season for every activity under heaven” (3:1), including “a time to laugh” (v. 4). On those days when your toddler rolls your youngest offspring down the hall, you may discover that the most godly response is not one of anger or disapproval. You’ve entered a new season—a time to laugh.

Before you say good night…

Are you usually lighthearted or serious around your kids?

Do you approach life with a sense of humor? If not, why?

Thank You, Lord, for those lighter moments along life’s road. Please don’t let us become so intense and tightly wound that we can’t let loose with a good, long laugh now and then at ourselves, our children, and our circumstances. Amen.

• From Night Light For Parents, by Dr. James & Shirley Dobson
  Copyright © 2000 by James Dobson, Inc. All rights reserved.