CHICKEN SLINGERS

Gosh the world has been heavy lately.  The news is always pretty heavy, politics, divisions, fighting, arguing, hating....it's been heavy.  I have some heavy prayer requests I am praying for some of my dear friends.  I was talking to a friend about this season of life and retirement.  I love having the gift of time to spend how I want but it can also be a season of loss.  Loss of friends, loss of health sometimes, loss of family, financial problems, sometimes crisis situations. I have some friends grieving some losses...health, dreams, spouses, their past.  It's heavy.  

So when a sweet friend brought these three little guys to class Monday, I knew it was time to play!  These three little guys are rubber chicken finger slingshots.  We started shooting them across the room at each other before exercise class.  Some got stuck on the ceiling!  Some flew past people's hair.  Some hits were square on target!  Everyone could do it!  It was easy and fun and we laughed and laughed and laughed.  I needed it.  I think others needed it.  I came home still laughing about it.  

I came from a family with a sense of humor.  My brother got me a chicken that squawks and lays plastic eggs for my 66th birthday which is part of a huge box of past birthday presents.  These presents include a "grow your own sister" toy, alligator jerky which I use as a bookmark LOL, a chicken catapult, remote control roaches and one ferocious tarantula which I bring out every October 31 for class!  Just to name a few.  We love to laugh.  

I have friends that love to laugh and we can laugh about anything.  My grandkids make me laugh.  I watch tv shows that are uplifting and make me laugh.  There are some very clean stand up comedians right now that are hilarious.  I have a reaction that when someone spills something, it is super funny to me.  My daughter dropped a pizza upside down on the floor one time getting it out of the oven and I laughed and laughed and still do thinking about it. I dropped a meatloaf in a glass pan on my mom's ceramic floor.  Have you ever seen meatloaf shatter?  A few years ago, after Thanksgiving dinner, we sat down to eat dessert.  My daughter took one bite of her pecan pie I had baked and spit it back out and said "did you forget the sugar?"  Why yes, I did. lol I won't even tell you about the dressing that ended up in the turkey carcass that was thrown outside for the cat instead of on the Thanksgiving table.  My husband had to run outside and get it before the cat did!  It was funny! (You probably shouldn't eat at our house on a holiday!)  You either laugh or cry!  I have a million stories like that.  It's a good thing we have learned to laugh at ourselves.

They say laughing boosts immunity, lowers stress hormones, relieves your muscles, eases anxiety and tension and prevents heart disease.  "As you get older, three things happen.  The first is your memory goes, and I can't remember the other two."  "You know you're getting older when everything hurts and what doesn't hurt, doesn't work."  

Laughter is an important coping mechanism.  It keeps things in perspective.  It's good not to take ourselves too seriously.  Proverbs 17:22 says "A joyful heart is the health of the body."  Solomon knew! I think the basis for laughter is surrender.  It is so hard to laugh when your heart is heavy, when your mind is full of fears or worry or things out of your control, you really can't think of anything else. The answer is to surrender those things you can't control to the Lord.  Surrender the outcome to Him.  Surrender the grief and worry and let Him give you hope.  Surrender the past and regret that you can't do anything about. Stop reliving it.  He works absolutely everything (your past, your mistakes, your grief, your hurt and pain) for your good.  But you have to surrender it all and trust Him. Turn to Him in your grief, hurt and pain.  Trust Him to give you wisdom and grace and comfort. He promises to help you.  "Come to me all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."  Matthew 11:28-30.  There is rest in surrender.  

 You can come into class and have a lot on your mind.  Or you may be grieving over something.  But once you are around other people, and the music begins and we start exercising and of course laughing (because that is what we do when we exercise) life doesn't feel so heavy.  I leave feeling lighter and sometimes have a different perspective.  It happens every single time.  Laughter is so important.  But sometimes you have to be intentional to find something to laugh at or have fun.  You have to make the room in your thoughts for laughter.  We have a tendency to isolate when we have trials.  Being around people is the healthiest thing you can do.  Let yourself be around others and laugh.  Life will just keep being heavy if you don't break out of that cloud and venture to laugh.  So that's our challenge.  Let's start with surrender, then find something, maybe one thing, to laugh about today.  I'll leave you with a joke my grandson told me today.  Why did the spider get on the computer?  To find a new website!  That's funny!  

Love Him.                                                Love y'all dearly.

                                                                Diana