Finding a Merry Heart

My husband and I are both naturally serious people. Not that we don’t enjoy a good laugh. We do. But don’t tend to laugh together spontaneously. We usually need something to spark our laughter.

This spring has proven to be a very stressful season in my husband’s job. He comes home at night needing to get his head out of his world of work. And so we’ve been looking for things that will bring some needed levity to our lives.

Of course there are movies and TV shows. We tend to like the British brand of humor, so some of our favorite sources of laughter are Jeeves and Wooster and Keeping Up Appearances. A funny one we’ve recently found on Amazon Prime is a comedy out of Canada called Corner Gas. Its quirky characters kind of remind me of The Newhart Show, if you are old enough to remember that one! Then there are the tried and true funny movies. Too many to name, but we especially enjoy the screwball romantic comedies of the 1940s. We recently attended our local Summer Classic Film series screening of The Thin Man and laughed along with the crowd at the antics of Nick and Nora Charles. (And, of course, Asta!)

Often a laugh-out-loud novel is helpful during times of stress. Again, there are some are old favorites—Jeeves and Wooster (yes, again!), or really anything by P.G. Wodehouse. Also, the 2 1/2 Pillars of Wisdom series by Alexander McCall Smith. There are also some current authors I can count on for humorous situations and characters, authors such as Jen Turano and Regina Jennings.

But even more therapeutic than funny shows and books is laughing with friends. In our missional community group at church, all of us are in the midst of high-stress seasons of life. (I think it goes with the age!) Between job situations, moves, aging parents, adult children, grandkids, and grief, our days can be long and draining. We are weary, every one of us. So over the past few months we’ve taken a break from our usual weekly discussions of C.S. Lewis or Timothy Keller books and have instead gone to dinner together (or gathered in a home for dinner) and ended up telling stories. Growing up stories. Raising our kids stories. Newly married stories. But always a funny story. We’ve learned more about each other in these months than in the past two years of more serious discussions. We’ve laughed until our bellies ached, until tears rolled from our eyes and cheeks hurt from smiling. And we’ve left those get-togethers feeling lighter than when we arrived.

This is no surprise, really. Proverbs 17:22 tells us “a merry heart does good, like medicine.” While we continue to give each other a listening ear and lots of prayer when dealing with the hard stuff, on the recent rare occasions recently when our little group can all be together, it feels as if the most spiritual thing we can do is laugh.

Do you naturally find things to laugh about or do you need a prompt? What are your favorite sources of laughter during stressful times?

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D'Ann Mateer

Inspired by novelist Eugenia Price, D’Ann’s dream of writing historical fiction with an element of faith began in middle school, though her serious drive toward publication took a bit longer. D’Ann is the author of four historical novels and one novella, as well as a contemporary short stories in a compilation volume. D’Ann and her husband of 30 years can be found in Austin, TX when they aren’t touring historic sites or visiting their grown children.

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