A Cheerful Heart ~

Do you feel like sometimes you're too serious? Don't let your marriage become one of the everyday formalities like chores and work and bills and schedules. We often can get so deep into the trap of busyness that everything seems to be routine. My hubby has always been a funny guy. I think that's one of the things that drew me to him! I tend to get so stiff and serious about what needs to be done and what needs to be checked off the list of to-do's, that I can't loosen up and have fun as easily as he does. And sometimes I'm too busy to join him and cheerfully share those moments. I've learned (and I'm still a work in progress) not to take myself too seriously! Life is full of heavy stuff. We need to be real and admit that there are often hardships and pain that we deal with. But there are times we just need to loosen up and have a good belly laugh and enjoy each other in the midst of chaos.
The Word tells us that "A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones."
Other places in The Word show us that we can actually have a broken spirit when we have no joy.  "A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance: but by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken."
When we look aside from Biblical principles (there are many scriptures on laughter if you have the time to look them up!) we can look to the physical. Laughing lowers our blood pressure, reduces stress, stimulates the immune system, and increases natural pain killers into our bloodstream.
Laughter increases oxytocin, which is a hormone that is often called a bonding chemical.
People with a sense of humor get burnout and depression at a lower rate.
Seems like a lot of good reasons to laugh your way through life!
One quote I read says ~ "A marriage without a sense of humor is like a wagon without springs – jolted by every pebble in the road.”
If laughter can be so great for us in the physical, emotional and spiritual aspects of life, think of what it can do in your relationship with your husband!
Reading a report on people struggling in marriage, one of the common threads I saw repeated was that they don't have fun and laugh together anymore.  And they wonder where that has gone and why.
What a shame that we often overlook this simple pleasure! Let it be said that your marriage consisted of lots of laughter ~ be found guilty of having too much fun together, as opposed to a union of boring days strung  together by by a loose thread of melancholy.
As I grow older, and often find Eric and I alone together in the home we built, may it be a life and a home that attests to not only the reality of the tough stuff we have endured together as we walk this road to our eternal homes. Let it be that house on a hill that has a Godly beacon in the window for those we meet upon the way. Let us do His work together joyfully. Let us teach our children and grand-babies and anyone we meet, where their true joy comes from, as it is only from Jesus Christ that we can be filled with that. But please, let it be a reminder to us  as we sit together through the years, of the laughter and joys we've shared. Let the very walls and floor boards of our home soak in the sounds of laughter and joy, that in years to come we may sit together and listen to the harmony of joyful memories created together. Let us thankfully worship at His feet as laughter echoes from each corner and each wall!
That all being said, to say this ~ create some laughter in the walls and floor boards of your home tonight. Enjoy life and laugh with your husband. Show him that you can lighten up and have some fun, and I can guarantee you ~ it's something you will never regret.

In His Love ~ Kim

"With Jesus in Her Heart, and Coffee in Her Cup"