31 Days to Bless Your Home: Easy Tips for the Domestically Challenged
Week 2- The Spirit of the Home: Creating an Atmosphere of Love, Peace, and Joy the Brings Honor to God
Day 9 – A Home Filled with Joy, Laughter, and Fun
“A cheerful heart is good medicine,
but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.” Proverbs 17:22 NIV
but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.” Proverbs 17:22 NIV
“Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again—rejoice!” Philippians 4:4 NLT
This week’s challenge: Prayerfully evaluate the spiritual climate of your home and ask God to help you establish an atmosphere in which the fruit of the Spirit clearly abounds.
Today’s challenge: Find something to laugh about with your family, and LOL for real!
As we piled into the car on our way to church for an old fashioned pot luck dinner this past Sunday, I opened the door and screamed at the intruder looking back at me! And then I almost wet my pants laughing! My daughter, Natalie, got me good! This is what I found staring up at me from inside the car…
I had been cleaning out the attic for our move, and she found our famous snowman and mischievously planned her clever little prank. This guy has quite a history! I usually keep him near the front door at Christmastime to greet all who enter, but my son, Stephen, thought it looked creepy when we first bought it. So, I hid it behind his bedroom door the first night so it would scare him before he went to bed.
What did he do? Well, I found the snowman waiting for me the next morning in my bathtub! Since then, for the past several years, that snowman has found itself in closets, hiding in beds, peeking through windows, cars, laundry rooms, bathrooms… you name it! We even send pictures of it once in awhile to each other, and for some silly reason, it always makes us belly laugh! It has become the family joke!
What is it about that silly snowman that makes us laugh so much?
There seems to be some kind of mystique about inside jokes within a family. It builds family identity and strengthens the bond we share. We aren’t really laughing at the snowman as much as we are just laughing with each other as we share a funny secret that belongs to us and only us. (Of course, now we are sharing it with all of you!)
Our son, Jacob, came to stay with us for a few months when his job transferred him to this area. It was exciting to have him home again after nine years of being on his own! After a few days, he took his dad to the side and said, “You two sure do laugh a lot!”
Jeff said, “We really do. We have such a happy home.”
I was so thrilled that he noticed! It’s true too! Jeff and I love every day of our lives together, and we truly have fun as a family! Life is meant to be enjoyed, and God has blessed us with his immeasurable joy in our home!
Does it come easily? Not always! Does that mean that everything always goes perfectly for us? Not quite! Sometimes life is just plain tough, and we don’t always feel like laughing. However, we have made a decision that we will have a joy-filled home, regardless of our circumstances. We believe that it is possible to have a heart filled with joy no matter what we are going through. Even in times of grief or distress, God can still grant a deep, unshakeable joy in our hearts.
Understand that laughter and joy are not the same thing, although they often tend to go hand in hand. We can still be full of joy even at times when it may not be feasible to laugh. Joy is not based on circumstances or outside stimuli, therefore, joy can be present in our lives at all times. It is a deep, settled sense that all is well regardless of how circumstances appear.
I am not talking about being out of touch with reality when I say that joy is possible at all times. We do face problems head-on, and we approach life realistically. We have a healthy balance of emotions in our home. However, as one of the fruits of the Spirit, the Holy Spirit has enabled us to experience joy as a foundation for our marriage and our home. We have simply had to make the choice to live in it.
I would like to recommend a book that is immensely helpful in learning how to experience true joy in our everyday lives, Choose Joy: Because Happiness Isn’t Enough, by Kay Warren. She defines joy as “the settled assurance that God is in control of all the details in my life, the quiet confidence that ultimately everything is going to be all right, and the determined choice to praise God in all things.”
Her definition clears up the misconception that joy requires us to laugh and smile all the time like airheads. Even though we do laugh a lot, joy actually runs much deeper than that. We have a settled assurance, a quiet confidence, and have made a determined choice. And, because of this deep and pure joy, we are able to find humor and indulge in laughter in everyday situations no matter what else is going on in our lives.
Doesn’t that sound like a lot more fun than entertaining the mulligrubs and moaning and groaning about the stresses and miseries of life every day? Is that any way to live? Jesus came to give us life to the fullest, so why not do it? Let’s really live! Let’s enjoy ourselves while we are at it too!
*Here are some proven benefits of laughter:
- Laughter makes life more enjoyable.
- Laughter relaxes the body and reduces stress.
- Laughter releases endorphins, the feel-good hormone, leaving you with feelings of well being and peace. Endorphins are also known to relieve pain!
- Laughter boosts the immune system, helping your body to fight diseases more effectively.
- Laugher improves circulation and promotes heart health.
Do you need any more incentives to laugh? Here are mine:
- The Bible says that laughter does the heart good like medicine.
- Laughter builds our family bonds.
- Jesus came to give us an abundant life, and laughter is one of His gifts to us for that purpose.
- Joy is a fruit of the Holy Spirit, and it comes naturally when our lives are yielded to Him.
- Laughter creates a nurturing and happy atmosphere in our homes.
Here is a good source for laughter! We have found it to be worth the little bit of money each month to invest in Sirius radio if for no other reason than to listen to Laugh USA, a clean, family friendly comedy channel. Check it out! http://www.siriusxm.com/laughusa Look for other sources of humor, and make your own too! Laugh every opportunity you get!
Have a merry heart.
Keep a cheerful disposition.
Smile!
And, enjoy your life!
Reminder: Today, find something to laugh about with your family, and LOL for real!
Join me tomorrow for a video on the spirit of contentment in our homes. This is the one that really made a difference for me personally!
Thank you, and God bless you and your home!
Shari Lewis
