Week 24: Laughter: The Best Medicine
Read Time: 2.9 min
Can you remember the last time you laughed together with your spouse? One of the most healing balms in life and in marriage is laughter. When you and your spouse can see the humor in things that happen, you are both cultivating a valuable tool to be used in your relationship as well as practicing a healthy method of relieving stress and tension.
Humor is often experienced when the unexpected happens. It may be actions that exaggerate the most characteristic attributes of your spouse. It may be the recognition of the absurdity of what was expected (as compared to what actually happened). When you or your spouse don’t take yourself too seriously—that’s when you can experience the many benefits of humor.
Being able to embrace the humor in a situation can recalibrate the expectations of a husband and wife into a viewpoint that may be more real and reasonable.
Being able to see the humor in life and in marriage is renewing, refreshing, and redemptive. A good laugh that is free from ridicule and not used as a way to avoid hard emotional work can be a great reminder that life is not perfect, people are not perfect, and circumstances are often out of our control.
The next time you and your spouse need to decompress after some type of mishap or disappointment, look for the humor. Humor is a compassionate and low-key way of processing unexpected outcomes without being caustic or dismissive. And it is one way of recognizing a need for change without being confrontational, especially when you are laughing together.
Being able to embrace the humor in a situation can recalibrate the expectations of a husband and wife into a viewpoint that may be more real and reasonable.
Some Things To Do For The Week
Day 2: Reflect on the message and scripture reading; journal if you like
Day 3: Pray for or meditate on what you think you need
Day 4: Discuss the message and scripture with your spouse
Day 5: Plan how you can best respond to the message
Day 6: Rest; don’t think about the message or the scripture; listen in the stillness
Day 7: Recommit yourself to your marriage
Applicable scripture listed under Discussion References.