AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT

APRIL 1, 2022

I was reading an article the other day about the spaghetti harvest in Europe, and I was amazed at the careful and diligent care these trees are given so that they produce. Apparently, this year is going to be one of the best crops in years. “This is the product of many years of patient endeavor by growers who succeed in producing the perfect spaghetti,” the article said.

Believe it? APRIL FOOLS!!

Today is April Fool’s Day. We do not really know where it came from. One theory is that it came into being when the Julian calendar, which placed the new year around the March equinox, was replaced with the Gregorian calendar, which placed the new year January 1. People who did not know about the change or refused to accept it and continued to celebrate the new year in the spring were called April fools. Most of us have played April Fool’s jokes on others, or have had these jokes played on us.

I love to laugh. Maybe you know that about me. I love a good joke, ask my kids I have a repertoire of Dad jokes, you know the good ones, that make my wife roll her eyes each time. I love a funny story from real life experience, and to be honest since I was a child, I have enjoyed April Fool’s Day. A good ole harmless joke or yarn, that people for a moment believe to be true. 

Laughter is good for us. A hearty chuckle releases endorphins, those feel-good neurotransmitters in our brains, that have an effect like narcotics, and endorphins are part of the reason laughing is so contagious. Laughing also has many health benefits such as increasing blood flow and improving mental and physical resilience. In fact, some researchers suggest that it’s not unlike the benefits of a vigorous workout session. Now thats the kind of workout I could get into ..... a good laugh!!

Laughter is important in the scriptures too.

Job 8:21

He will yet fill your mouth with laughter, and your lips with shouting.

Psalm 126:2

Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy; then they said among the nations, “The Lord has done great things for them.”

Ecclesiastes 3:4

A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

Luke 6:21

“Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you shall be satisfied. “Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh.

Genesis 21:6

And Sarah said, “God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh over me.”

Psalm 37:13

But the Lord laughs at the wicked, for he sees that his day is coming.

I really believe that God loves a good laugh; 

humor comes from God. 

It’s God who says to us, “a joyful heart is good medicine” Proverbs 17:22. We would all be healthier and happier and, very likely, holier if we had more good laughs. For laughter is more characteristic of God than weeping.

One of my favorite Old prayers begins like this:

Thou art the blessed God,

Happy in thyself,

Source of happiness in thy creatures.

God is not the sad God, but the blessed (happy) God! And God’s happiness is eternal and rooted in his unchangeable, unshakable, glorious nature. That means our source of lively happiness is never-ending! Sometimes I think that in the age to come we are going to be surprised at how much and how hard God makes us laugh!

Listen to these words “One of the great tragedies of the fall is that we lost so much of our capacity to laugh with God. This sin-sick, evil-infected world became a place of serious sorrow, and our sin-diseased fallen natures became seriously distorted and unreasonably prideful.”

The Gospel’s tell us that Jesus came to change all that. The cheerful God became the “man of sorrows” (Isaiah 53:3) for us. But this was only for a short time. And like him, our sad tears are only for a short time — a short lifespan. We may weep for the brief night, but Joy is coming in the eternal morning (Psalm 30:5).

And the “man of sorrows” himself said, “Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh” Luke 6:21. Hear that: You shall laugh! That is a promise of a happy God 1 Timothy 1:11. Crying is going to go the way of death and someday will be no more Revelation 21:4. But joy full to overflowing and pleasure pure and rich will never end Psalm 16:11.

April Fools’ Day is not about celebrating what the Bible defines as a fool. Many writers think it is. Maybe I am missing something, but I feel April Fools Day is about good-natured, lighthearted, innocent “shenanigans” and some heart-healthy laughter. Enjoy it! Pull some pranks! God loves a good laugh. Could it be that we are like God when we laugh good and hard.

A time to weep and a time to laugh;

                         A time to mourn and a time to dance.

Ecclesiastes 3:4