Walking down the isle of a small grocery store, I pulled my cart to the side as I heard another one close behind me. When I looked around I saw a mother with three children, two riding in or on her cart, one walking beside her. What struck me about their appearance was that all four people were laughing out loud. I had never seen such a display of hilarity in such a diverse age group. The youngest wasn’t older than a toddler, and the oldest must have been in third or fourth grade. The mother was laughing heartily, too. As I reached for a frozen pizza, it occurred to me that I would probably never see such a sight again.

Nowhere in the Bible does it mention Jesus laughing. Weeping, angry, marveling, are all mentioned , but no place does it record his laughter. Nevertheless, there are rich images of joy and even laughter in the Old Testament, and the richest is probably the laughter of a woman when she was told that she would have a baby in her old age. Her laughter became the name of her baby, Isaac.

Sarah said, “God has brought me laughter and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me.” (Genesis 21:6)

Sarah’s laughter echoed down the centuries to a young woman in Nazareth who also bore an unexpected baby: And Mary said, “My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my savior. . . God has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful to Abraham and his descendants forever, just as he promised our ancestors.” ( Luke 1: 46&47, 55)

Strength associated with laughter is echoed in Nehemiah’s rebuke of his people for weeping when they had returned from exile. He made it clear that the appropriate response to being restored to Israel was to be joyful, for, The joy of the Lord is your strength. (Nehemiah 8:10)

Sarah laughed first at the unlikelihood of God’s promise to her husband Abraham. She laughed again at the reality of the birth of her boy, and God told Abraham to name his son laughter. (Isaac)

The woman in the grocery store never knew that she changed my day with her family’s laughter, but Abraham knew that descendants of his son would change the world forever. (Genesis 17:19)

Love in Him,

Prue