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LAUGHTER IS GOD WAKING UP
10-12-08
I have three paintings of Jesus that move me in
different ways. One was a gift from my dear friend, Judy Corn Dale, and
it is Jesus as a carpenter, planning a piece of wood. When my life gets
humdrum I think of all the years Jesus worked as a humble carpenter. It
makes me know that no work is beneath me, that all work is honorable and
holy.
The second painting came from a lady in California who was in her 90s
and going into a nursing home. She had to sell all her marvelous
paintings. I saw a miniature of her "Cosmic Christ" and immediately
bought it. It shows great energy coming from Jesus' eyes. It is
hypnotic. I have stood before it many times until I felt full of His
energy.
The other favorite is "The Laughing Christ." Just looking at it warms me
to the core of my being. It makes my spirit skip rope. It often brings
on a deep and intensely satisfying kind of laughter.
It shocks some people to see Jesus laughing. I do not know why. Laughter
is one of the most frequent things people do and Jesus called Himself
"the son of man" more than any other title. It was important to him that
we see and feel his humanity. As Al Harvey said, "What I like about
Jesus is that He put a human face on God." He said this to me 25 years
ago and his words become more profound to me with each passing year.
One night Al and I were reading about Jesus washing the feet of His
disciples and we were both brought to tears by this beautiful story. I
am certain there was holy laughter going on during that ceremony. When
Peter told Him he did not want Him washing his feet and Jesus said, "If
you don't let me wash your feet, you can have no part of me," and Peter
said, "Then Lord, just wash all of me," you cannot tell me the whole
group didn't laugh over Peter's words.
I recently came across a page of quotes from the mystic-poet, Hafiz.
Lord, I love that soul! One poem says. "Laughter is God waking up." If
you've ever been real sad and some friend came by and got you to
laughing, you have experienced God waking up inside you at that point of
laughter.
One of the quotes that brought on holy laughter for me was, "Just go
wild loving God and everyone all day!" One thing that attracts people to
Pentecostal worship is the way people lose their self-consciousness and
go wild loving God. I understand that some people cannot turn loose that
way but it is a liberating thing to watch those who can.
For some weird reason it is OK for us to throw our reservations to the
wind and paint our hair and bodies some crazy color and scream at
sporting events but we do not let ourselves get excited over Jesus or
intense spiritual experiences. Some day when you are alone practice just
going wild loving God and everyone all day."
Hafiz also said, "Keep squeezing drops of the sun from your prayers and
your work and music and from your companions' beautiful laughter.
For many years I recorded conversations with friends. I had hundreds of
tapes and one day I decided I wanted one tape with just the laughter of
my friends. It was one of the best spiritual exercises of my life. Every
time I would get low, I would listen to my laughter tape. Which reminds
me I need to transfer that tape to a CD because it is truly like
"squeezing drops of the sun" into my soul.
Yes, laughter is God waking up.
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