📖💊 Laughter is in God's Prescription! 😄

Laughter is not only an amazing gift from God but also one of His meaningful promises.

The Bible says:

Luke 6:21 "Blessed are ye that hunger now: for ye shall be filled. Blessed are ye that weep now: for ye shall laugh."

Laughter helps us cope with sadness in everyday life. Have you ever been mad at someone then they said something to make you smile or laugh? You were upset but laughter made you feel much better.

Having a cheerful heart and laughing with family and friends are often taken for granted but are really important to maintain relationships and help maintain good overall health.

"Just like honey, too much of anything is bad."

The Bible says:

Ephesians 5:3-4 But among you there must not be either sexual immorality, impurity of any kind, or greed, as these are not fitting for the saints. Neither should there be vulgar speech, foolish talk, or coarse jesting–all of which are out of character–but rather thanksgiving.

1. Ecclesiastes 7:6 For as the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of the fool: this also is vanity.

It’s also scientifically proven that laughter is generally good for our health.

Proverbs 17:22 King James Version (KJV)
22 A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.

The Science of Laughter

We usually laugh without even knowing why we do it. Most of us regard laughter as just a normal response to comedy, or signs of an uplifted mood. Instead, a 10-year research on this undervalued topic says:

I concluded that laughter is primarily a social vocalization that binds people together. It is a hidden language that we all speak. It is not a learned group reaction but an instinctive behavior programmed by our genes. Laughter bonds us through humor and play.
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Another study got astonishing results, saying that people laugh seven times for every 10 minutes of conversation.

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They have found that people think what makes them laugh are jokes and humour, but based on scientific observations, we laugh most frequently when we are with other people - and not usually at jokes themselves.

Laughter is a social emotion and it is highly encouraged by society on a subconscious level in order to make and maintain social bonds.

We do make weird noises when we laugh - from squeaks to gasps, wheezes and snorts. Each sound actually reflects the muscles in the chest squeezing out air from our rib cages through our air passages under high pressures.

Some people laugh with very high-pitched sounds, far higher than the notes that they could sing, for example.

Laughter is also a very primitive way of making a sound.
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Laughter is done in primitive ways(unlike speech) and they are apparently controlled by a simpler, more fundamental brain system. -One that functions like vocalisation in all mammals (unlike speech which is much more complex).

This is why a stroke can rob someone of the ability to speak, but leave them able to laugh and cry. They have suffered damage to the brain areas that enable them to speak, but the older emotional system is still intact.
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Laughter, as well as anger are really common emotions across all human cultures and even some animals. There are even striking similarities between the sounds and facial expressions we humans produce in anger to that of mammals like wolves.

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I believe that our emotions were all designed for our general well-being and even our safety. Take anger for example: It’s very easy to recognize the growl of an angry lion or dog. The sounds seem to be deeply ingrained in our minds and hard to be mistaken for other kinds of emotions. It’s an easy way to recognize danger and is also a form of self-defense, to scare off attackers. Anger is not necessarily bad as well as sadness.

There’s a time to laugh as well as there’s a time to mourn.

The Bible says:

Ecclesiastes 3:1–8 To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; A time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; A time to kill, and a time to heal; A time to break down, and a time to build up; A time to weep, and a time to laugh; A time to mourn, and a time to dance; A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; A time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; A time to get, and a time to lose; A time to keep, and a time to cast away; A time to rend, and a time to sew; A time to keep silence, and a time to speak; A time to love, and a time to hate; A time of war, and a time of peace.

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We can’t be happy and laugh all the time (unless there’s something very wrong deep inside. Haha!). This goes to show that the Bible is really an accurate basis of good values. Knowing that laughter, sadness and anger are part of us by design, we will learn to live with all of these emotions and be satisfied with how lucky we are to be humans.