14 LAUGH WITH ONE ANOTHER

“I love to see couples laughing together,” the waitress said to us. We had just recalled a funny time with our grandchildren and were laughing uncontrollably together.

Judi has a favorite saying, “Lighten up. It’s not life or death.” As a nurse, she dealt with terminal illness and critical situations daily. Some of the mundane stuff in life can drain the fun out of living and loving together.

Become accustomed to the fact that life is problem-solving. You can approach problems with a sense of humor and overcome the circumstances. Or you can live “under the circumstances” and make every problem a crisis.

Some marriages look like survival camps; every day is filled with heavy, weighty junk. But even persecuted peoples in history have developed “gallows humor” to overcome their plight.

Marriage isn’t a life-sentence; it’s a sentence to life. Enjoy the journey. Laugh at the circumstances and with each other. Have fun.

Let joy be your inner fuel for getting through your valleys together. Your spouse is a gift of joy to lift you up when you’re down.

Try this: Get a silly joke book. Take time to read it to each other. Make a decision to laugh at your problems instead of crying over them. Remember that tears last only for a season, but joy is eternal.

Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!

Phil. 4:4–5