"If you’re going to be able to look back on something and laugh about it, you might as well laugh about it now." ~ Marie Osmond
I love this quote. It's humorous and partly true.
If only it was that easy. Most of the time, most of us first feel upset when things don't go as we wish and when mishaps and messes happen. We may even need to cry before we can laugh.
But there are times we can go straight to laughter, like a time my niece Jessica described to me. Now an adult with children of her own, Jessica was about 6 when a mishap happened in her house.
Her mother and grandmother were preparing to make some throw pillows. Among the supplies were two jumbo plastic bags filled with small Styrofoam beans.
Lying on the living room floor, those jumbo bags looked like big, soft clouds to Jessica. She wondered what it would feel like to run, leap, and dive onto those inviting clouds. When her mom and grandmother saw her run toward the bags, they both yelled, "Nooooooo!" But it was too late. The bags had burst open and everything in the room was covered with little static-sticky white beans--the furniture, floor, walls, lamps, and the three of them. Styrofoam pieces were floating the
the air too.
Jessica was shocked at what happened and felt afraid. After that long, loud Noooooo, there was silence. What would her mother and grandmother do? When Jessica got the courage to look up at them, there was a moment, when their faces were expressionless. In the next moment they burst into laughter.
Jessica loves that memory; I love that story. It could have gone badly. Not only was Jessica not yelled at or punished, she got to laugh with them. Feeling loved and safe, Jessica helped them gather those little white beans that day. And the next day. And the next...
Of course, some mishaps are not laughable, ever. Those times call for love and compassion.
But for all the things in this day that are potentially funny, let's laugh.
For health, peace, and joy,
Charlene
THE SIXTH GIFT IS JOY: May it keep your heart open and filled with light. - from The Twelve Gifts of Birth
