Laughter

April 12, 2019

Just months before he died, George Younce sang to his friend Bill Gaither a little ditty he wrote about what it would be like to marry someone you’ve never before met. Set to a slowed-down version of “Side By Side,” it reads,

“We got married last Friday,

My girl was right there beside me;

Our guests were all gone, 

We were alone

Side by side.

We were so happily wed when

She got ready for bed then

Her teeth and her hair

She placed in a chair

Side by side.

One glass eye so tiny,

One hearing aid so small;

Then she took one leg off

And set on the chair by the wall.

I stood there so broken-hearted,

Most of my girl had departed,

I slept in the chair,

There was more of her there

Side by side.”

I sang this for our writer’s group a couple of weeks ago, got the expected laughter before posing this question: “Why do we laugh?” 

As far as I know, we humans are the only species that laughs. Animals exhibit anger, tenderness, fear, loyalty. They may mimic a smile, but of all God’s creatures, we alone laugh. I’ve read about and heard preachers preach on what it means to be made in the image of God. They talk of our ability to love, to reason, our conscience, our awareness of our mortality, and our capacity to imagine. I’ve never heard anyone suggest that laughter is part of what it means to be made in God’s image, but I suspect it is one component. The Bible says of God, “He who sits in the heavens shall laugh” (Psalm 2:4). Like all else that God created and called good, laughter too, can be corrupted by sin and used to humiliate and dehumanize people. Laughter can result from nervousness and fear. It is best when like the Holy Scriptures, it strips away our pretense and reveals the frailty and absurdities of life. True, it can be forced and faked. But it is originally good, is always redeemable by the grace of Christ and can be an avenue of redemption.

This evening was a “Meema and Beepa Night,” with the emphasis in the kids’ minds being the Meema part. We sat around the table after supper talking and laughing, followed by raucous games of cards and “Ghost in the Graveyard.” It might seem strange to speak of it this way, but it was a holy time for which I am grateful tonight. The laughter I think was a reflection of God’s enjoyment of his children enjoying their time together.