go ahead, I dare you to laugh

“A joyful heart is the health of the body”

or in this translation:

“Laughter does good like a medicine.”

                                                              ~ Book of Proverbs, Chapter 17, verse 22

“Humor is a prelude to faith and laughter is the beginning of prayer.”

                     ~Reinhold Niebuhr

 

Did you know that laughter can improve your life in 111 different ways?  Here are five, just to get you thinking:

#1       one woman’s personal failure is another woman’s… not exactly success, but definitely a source of shared humanity.

Picture this. I’m babysitting – by myself – all five of my grandkids, and everyone, I mean everyone, is grouchy and whinny.  At one point I look at the gang that surrounds me, everyone four years old and under, and I say rather loudly, “Oh my LORD!”  Upon hearing the word “Lord,” my one-year-old granddaughter Sofia folds her hands… in prayer and looks up at me.  Clearly, God knows that I was NOT praying, but Sofia reminded me to stop, laugh, and yes, say a prayer together.

#2       I read somewhere that Carol Burnett once said, “comedy is tragedy plus time.” Clearly not every tragedy will transform into humor of the ha-ha type.  But I’ve learned that happiness and sadness can and often do travel together.  It’s important for me that I remember that even in the darkest moments, light will soon follow.

And in truth, some pretty dark and/or dreadful moments do eventually become humorous. For example, the camping trip from he**, when tornadoes kept breaking out one after the other everywhere around us. Not only did our family have to take down our camping site in a panic in the rain, we had to drive east as fast as we could trying to find shelter or outrun the tornadoes.  Yet within two hours we were “camping” and roasting marshmallows again –at a Marriott Residence Inn!

If you want to read a family-oriented blog whose writer has a phenomenal sense of humor about every day moments, check chewingcrayons.com! 

#3       Who would you rather be around, a pessimist cynic who never smiles because life is just too hard or a realist who finds humor in most situations?  

Yeah, me, too!  Enough said.

#4       there are 17 different ways that laughter is good for you, physically.  It boosts  the immune system. It triggers endorphins and can even temporarily relieve pain. It improves and increases blood flow, protecting your heart (both literally and figuratively) against difficulties. 

A few years ago I realized that the physical exercises I was doing in physical therapy, AND the wise advice I was given in acupuncture by Dr. Li, AND my spiritual director’s guidance – were actually all telling me the same thing.

Open up your chest.

Breathe as deep as you can.

Let yourself be vulnerable, open, and genuine!

Do you need more reasons?

#5       Since laughter relieves physical tension, stress and anxiety, experts say that your muscles stay relaxed for up to 45 minutes following laughter!

I know it is different when you’re a young mom and you have 15 different balls to juggle with your kids. But I can tell you that the best medicine for me when I’m having a bad day or when my body is flaring up is to hang out with my grands. Within seconds… okay, within minutes, I am laughing at something one of them said or did. Who can resist a 2-year-old stud opening the front door in sunglasses?

As expert author Misti B., points out, “laughter has never failed to improve one’s life.”  Check out her book, "If you leave me can I come with you?" -- right here!

And yes, I've written about humor before -- like here and this one here. But I'm not as funny as Mrs. Diaz! 

“It is requisite for the relaxation of the mind that we make use,

from time to time,

of playful deeds and jokes”

                                                                       ~ St. Thomas Aquinas

orienting my heart

“When Paul says that God has chosen the weak, the foolish, and the rejected, or when Jesus, in Matthew’s Gospel, describes the Kingdom of God as a wedding feast to which all the poor, the lame, the sick, and the blind are invited, they confirm that the weak have a preferential place in the hart of God. Jesus himself was rejected and outcast; he identifies with the rejected, the outcasts. Is that not the Gospel’s new order that replaces the old? We in L’Arche are beginning to touch something of the mystery that people like Saint Vincent de Paul grasped when he said: ‘The poor are our teachers.’”

~Jean Vanier

“One can write reams about the poverty of Christ—drawing conclusions about what an imitation of that poverty would be like and what kind of implications this might have for us. What is beyond discussion is that whatever our life it must, if it is to be Christian, protect a place for Christ in our flesh and blood encounters—our meetings, our welcomes, our ways of relating—to the poor. The poor man by reason of poverty itself often repels us (cf. Francis kissing the leper). He brings into our way of life the very contradiction that is Christ. It is the real presence of Christ in the poor man, when this is really believed and the poor man is known as a person, that can transform the encounter with him from a purely ‘social problem’ into something essentially and authentically Christian. The poor must not be someone who is tolerated and put up with, but someone who is waited for and expected.”

~Madeleine Delbrél

“Saint Vincent de Paul saw that one truly intelligent way to follow Christ is to recognize our own spiritual poverty and to serve that poverty in ‘the least of these.’ He recognized that one truly intelligent way to practice theology was to tend to galley convicts, untouchables, and incurables. [A]t the end of the day the question for each of us, is: What was my orientation of heart toward the people with whom I came in contact over the last twenty-four hours? How am I treating the people who can do nothing for me? Is my work for my glory or for God’s?”

~Heather King

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I’ve spent most of the past three days hanging out with my holy trinity of grandkids, Elena and her little brother and sister, twins Ignacio and Cecilia.

In a house full of adults, these beautiful little voices are simultaneously the center of attention—and the voiceless who “can do nothing for me,” helplessly needing care and nurture.

Sometimes the poor in our lives are, literally, the homeless, poor, and forgotten. Sometimes the poor in our day are those who need our help and attention, and can’t give us anything tangible in return, the children, the sick, the elderly.

How can I change the world always comes back to me. How did I respond to the people in my life today? What was my “orientation of heart,” my attitude?

the new normal

For the past month or so, our son Christopher and his family have been living with us as he and Mary discern and find a new home in Oklahoma for their family of five.

Having our three grandchildren (and their parents!) living with us is an indescrible gift of joy, full of surprises and unexpected blessings every day. I often boast that I have the best daughter-in-law in the world. Mary and I are not just related, we’re also friends who work at building our intimate relationship.

Elena and Diego

Yet as beautiful as this experience has been so far, it obviously has its challenges as we all adjust to a new normal!

One area that I’ve had to rethink and recommit to doing is, surprisingly, my daily prayer, something that has always been the highest priority for me.

The trouble is, for years now I’ve been the queen of my own daily schedule. When i don’t take prayer time first thing in my day, I simply rearrange the day to take prayer time later on. That’s not so easy when there’s a 2-year-old and twin 6-month-old babies in the house.

Ignacio

 With grandchildren waiting for me on the other side of my bedroom door, I confess it’s been hard to not rush out to join the fun chaos I hear. They also wake up much earlier than I do, which only makes me more aware of not being out there to help.

Much as I did when my children were young, I’ve learned that even in this temporary normal, I must be deliberate about taking care of myself—physically, mentally, and spiritually. That means, first and foremost, not leaving my bedroom until I've taken time to be silent in prayer.

Cecilia

 Maybe before I die I’ll learn the lesson that seems to keep repeating itself: when I do my part to be at my best within the circumstances of my life, I am also better able to be present to the people in my life.

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“When we are distracted during prayer and find the time long because of our impatience to pass on to something else, it is good to say to yourself: My soul, are you tired of your God? Are you not satisfied with him? You possess him and do you seek for something else? Where can you be better than in his company? Where can you profit more? I have experienced that this calms the mind and unites it with God.” 

~Saint Claude de la Colombière, S.J. (d.1682)

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Remember: I have one copy of 

Marge Fenelon's “Imitating Mary”  to give away! 

To be entered to win, just leave a comment by going here. You may even leave separate comments if you also share this post/giveaway on Twitter and Facebook. 

But hurry -- the contest ends at 8 pm CST on Sunday, May 5. 

Living in Grace

[NOTE: Still in Milwaukee, and reflecting on some of the lessons I’ve learned—so far—from my almost two-year-old nietecita.]

Throughout the week, I have been pondering the concept of GRACE.

So after everyone went to bed, I googled the word and came up with several ideas:

1. Grace is God's unmerited favor.
2. It is kindness from God we don't deserve.
3. There is nothing we have done, nor can ever do to earn this favor.
4. It is a gift from God.
5. God gives his Grace to us free of charge.
6. All God encourages us to do is that we receive his Grace and walk by Grace.

I also learned that St. Paul calls the gospel of Grace a mystery. And the Catechism of the Catholic Church emphasizes that:

Grace is favor, the free and undeserved help that God gives us to respond to his call to become children of God, adoptive sons, partakers of the divine nature and of eternal life. Grace is a participation in the life of God.

It stikes me that artists clearly understand Grace as a gift, a mystery, an undeserved help that shapes their writing, their form or creation. As painter Alfonse Borysewicz notes in his essay, "Naked Grace" in IMAGE, the journal:

I feel that my painting, maneuvered by grace, has led me to a physical theology, that is, inspiration given form and color.

If Grace is a participation in the life of God—and all God encourages us to do is to receive his Grace and walk by Grace, then it seems to me that our children and grandchildren are perhaps our best teachers of what this means.

What I witness when I am with Elena, is a child with such complete trust and confidence in her mom and dad’s complete love for her, no matter what, that everything she does, says, and lives is based on freedom and self-assurance. Elena has, without a doubt, already experienced the fullest meaning of God's Grace.