Laughter

We love to laugh
Loud and long and clear
We love to laugh
So ev’rybody can hear

The more you laugh
The more you fill with glee
And the more the glee
The more we’re a merrier we are!

Mary Poppins Musical

Oscar would wholeheartedly agree.

The other day, caught under my raincoat as he tried to throw it onto the back seat of the car, he dissolved into laughter. Sometimes I walk into a room to find him playing and laughing so hard at his own little world. Put on a Mr Bean cartoon and he’s full on belly laughing at every antic. One of my favourite things to do is laugh with him.

Proverbs 31 describes a woman of strength and dignity, saying she “laughs at the days to come.” I love that image. But I also find it challenging.

There are days when the worries creep in. Finances. Employment. What the future will look like. The questions can feel endless, the world daunting and laughter can seem a long way off.

Can we really laugh at the days to come?

We can, but not by knowing what the future holds, or trusting that everything will work out exactly as we hope. Rather it is by reminding us that we don’t have to know the whole story to trust the One who holds it.

The woman in Proverbs laughs not because the future is guaranteed to be easy, but because she is confident. And not in her ability to control tomorrow, or her secure future circumstances, but in the God who will meet her there.

The worries are still real. Planning matters. Faith doesn’t ask us to ignore any of that.

But perhaps we can do what we need to do today, entrust what we cannot control to God, and leave tomorrow in His hands.

And then, when laughter comes, let it come. Fully. Freely.

Maybe laughing at the days to come doesn’t mean we have stopped being afraid. Maybe it means fear doesn’t have the final say.

When the future has God in it with us, we are ok.

“She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come.” Proverbs 31:25