In her book, Days of Whine and Noses, Lisa Espinoza Johnson says: “Children are born with a mission: to keep parents humble…Our healthiest response to innocent off-spring embarrassments is to face them head-on with a sense of humor. People who don’t take themselves too seriously…are approachable, relatable, and (not coincidentally) some of the most humble folks you’ll meet. Their sense of humor has enabled them to snuggle into their coat of humility and break it in like an old pair of blue jeans.”
Amen, sister. I've been embarrassed by my kiddos more times than I can count. My almost-ten year old has NEVER gone to the bathroom without announcing it. Not one, single, solitary time. Nada! And my almost-four year old has a talent that could get him on "My Kid is More Talented than Your Kid" or some other reality show: He can BURP words. Hence his recent gassy declaration: "I Love You, Mom!"
What a proud moment for me.
Just the thought of children caused one biblical woman to laugh. Her name was Sarah, and she was near the ninety-years mark. She and her husband Abraham (no spring chicken himself at one-hundred years young) had not been able to have children, though the Lord had promised them offspring.
In Genesis 18, the scriptures say that three men (perhaps the Trinity, because they are referred to as “the Lord” several times) came calling on Abraham. Sarah fixed them a meal, and as they chatted, Sarah overheard them telling Abraham that God’s promise to give them a child would soon be fulfilled.
Sarah, who had evidently given up hope, laughed. We don’t know if it was a chuckle or a guffaw, but the Lord heard it. He said: “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Shall I surely bear a child, since I am old?’ Is anything too hard for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.”
Sarah denied laughing, but she was caught. (Why do we try to argue with God? It’s so fruitless!)
However, Sarah’s incredulity turned to hilarity of the best kind when she bore a son “at the appointed time.” Abraham and Sarah named the boy Isaac, which means “laughter.” Sarah declared, “God has made me laugh, and all who hear will laugh with me.”
This grateful mom had known laughter of the worst kind, because to be barren in her society was to suffer ridicule and persecution. And now, she knew the best kind of mirth—the kind that bubbles up from a heart bursting with fulfilled promises.
I think Sarah also learned to laugh at herself. As a new mom at ninety-plus, don’t you think she needed a great sense of humor just to get through each day? I mean, there was no Starbucks in sight back then. She didn’t even have Parenting magazine, binkies, or chocolate!
I believe God wanted to give something more than a baby to Sarah. He desired to work in Sarah’s heart, and she allowed Him to. From an embarrassing encounter with the LORD, in which she hmmm’ed and haw’ed and lied about laughing, to the birth of a baby named “laughter,” something happened to her.
She got a hope transfusion. And when her son came in fulfillment of God’s promise, she hooted and hollered and gave the glory to her Maker.
As Anita Renfroe, my favorite comedian, says, “Every woman has the chance to choose hilarity or insanity on a daily basis. Choose laughter.”
Sarah chose laughter. Will I? Will you?
God wants to give us something more than what we’re praying for. He wants to work in our lives so that joy bubbles up from our hearts, which are filled to bursting with precious promises.
The question is: will we let Him?
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