Laugh Lines
Memorize a joke or two and use it as salve on somebody who is hurting.
What do you call a deer with no eyes?
No-eye deer (as in “I have no idear”).
You sort of need to shrug your shoulders and tilt your head sideways when you deliver the punch line for the other person to get the joke, but once it sinks it, most people laugh hysterically.
I told it to one of my sisters years ago and she texted it to her boyfriend, who, I’m told, nearly lost it during the middle of a business meeting when he read the text.
That’s the magic of a good joke.
More than a decade ago, I had this exchange via text with a friend:
Friend: Hulk Hogan turns 59 today. What you gonna do when hulkamania runs wild on you?
Me: I am gonna rip off my shirt, body slam him and then give him the ole’ leg drop for the 1-2-3! Or … I’ll just stay inside and enjoy the AC. Haven’t decided yet.
Friend: Early results in the polling I have conducted has AC in the lead.
It was my turn to laugh.
Not long after that, I saw something that was so funny I had to put it on Facebook: “Not a good sign when you pull up to an ATM & the person in front of you is standing next to her car, smacking herself in the forehead.”
One of my cousins who lives in Florida saw it and said, “LOL! I’ve had a rough day at work, and I work for a credit union, but regardless, this is just a perfect picture in my mind! Thanks for the laugh!!”
I don’t have a great sense of humor, but that doesn’t stop me from trying to develop it. Laughter eases tension and it can make a bad day seem like not such a bad day.
Memorize a joke or two and use it as salve on somebody who is hurting. You might not have all the answers he or she needs, but your joke might lead to laughter, and laughter leads to a joyful heart, and a joyful heart is medicine for the soul.
If you are new to this newsletter, you may not know that Lee is the author of essay books that encourage you to slow down and live deeper, novels that make you feel, and devotional books that encourage reflection. You can visit his store here.
Check out Lee’s small-town, second-chance romance novel: Return to Cricket Springs. Book 2 in the series is coming later this year.
Here are some tidbits you might find interesting this week:
Shonda Whitworth posted this on social media the other day: “Your scars can be your bitterness or your scars can be your witness.” -@wonderful By the way, Shonda is new to Substack. Stop by and subscribe to her newsletter.
Here’s a beautiful remembrance of S. E. Reid’s baptism: A Small Resurrection.
The Bookly app (an app that helps you track your reading) is conducting a readathon from August 1 until August 11. You can learn more here.
I have a running conversation with a friend about what I will or won’t bend over and pick up when it comes to coins (I mean, why risk the injury, right?). That’s why this passage from Jan Karon’s novel To Be Where You Are was so funny to me: “She had read that people won’t pick up a penny anymore, and not many will pick up a nickel. But the dime was a game-changer. Seventy percent of people would pick up a dime, and everybody would pick up a quarter.”
My cat, Latte, likes to chase the sun around the house. It’s instinctive for her. That seems like a pretty good picture of the Christian life. Our instincts should be to chase the Son.
When Lee isn’t writing essays, devotional books, or Christian fiction, he is a freelance editor, as well as a freelance journalist who has written hundreds of articles for various newspapers and magazines. He’s also a fan of NASCAR, baseball, tennis, books, movies and coffee shops.