Belly Laughs

Don't you just LOVE the kind of situations that make you laugh at something...and then you KEEP LAUGHING because you keep thinking about it? Maybe a few seconds pass but then it's brought to mind again and you laugh all over again? And not just a chuckle...I'm talking the down deep belly laughs that make you spray out your nose or keep you from talking or breathing--that's the good stuff! I heard something so stupid on the radio today on the way home but it struck me funny and I kept laughing OUT LOUD about it for the next half hour! What a nice addition to my day! Even as I write this I'm still laughing!

Even better than that, in my opinion, is laughing (and continuing to laugh) when you're NOT supposed to! A few years ago I took two of my employees to a Human Trafficking Conference. We were sitting in a workshop with all kinds of high end officials=FBI, government folks, etc. and, obviously, the content was pretty somber. The thing was, the floor directly underneath the conference room where we were was doing repairs at the same time. And, for some odd and twisted reason, every time one of the officials opened their mouth to speak about the attrocities of Human Trafficking, from the floor below you could hear a drill or power saw or something to drown out the speaker. What poor timing!

After a few minutes of this, I turned to my employee and made a face, like, "Can you believe this?" and he started to chuckle...just a little "He he he" to himself...until the next time it happened...then it was a silent full body laugh...which got ME going...and then his co-worker beside him...Then every time we heard a drill or saw over the speaker's, "It' such a tragedy that young girls are being trafficked here in New Jersey", we would stiffle this uncontrollable urge to burst into laughter. It was great and terrible at the same time! At one point, I had tears streaming down my face and, in order to keep quiet and not encourage my two employees, actually put my face inside my bookbag like I was looking for something just so they couldn't see me laughing and continue to laugh because I was laughing! But it didn't work!? We all just kept laughing and trying NOT to laugh which made us laugh more!

The absolute worst part was that even though we tried as best we could for about 30 minutes to contain ourselves, the people sitting in the rows beside and behind us noticed what was going on and THEY began laughing at us laughing! And THAT kept US going! It was a LAUGH FEST at the Human Trafficking Conference of 2006...but OH what a great memory!

Why did God create us with the ability to find things funny? What makes us laugh? I'm not sure if it serves a purpose or how our body/mind transmits messages/situations into something that results in a "I-can-barely-breathe-tears-streaming-down-my-face-stop-it!-I-have-to-stop-laughing"! response...but I'm thankful! If God didn't intend for us to laugh and be merry or have the deep belly laugh response to certain things, I'm quite sure He could have left that out of our bodily makeup (but I'm sure glad He did not!) So today, PRAISE GOD for belly laughs! (and for laughing when you're NOT supposed to! >:)