By Mary Morrell
Friends bring the spirit of laughter
May God grant you always . . . A sunbeam to warm you, a moonbeam to charm you, a sheltering Angel so nothing can harm you. Laughter to cheer you. Faithful friends near you. And whenever you pray, Heaven to hear you.
— Irish Blessings
Surely, if God has given us any amazing gifts, the gift of friends is one of the best, especially the kind that last a lifetime; the kind that are genuine and allow you each to be the person you really are. My friend Rich is a friend like that. Our families have been friends since our children began kindergarten 19 years ago.
Recently, my husband and I and some close friends went out with Rich and his family to celebrate his wife’s birthday. Since I was not driving, I decided to indulge with the guest of honor in an unusually named drink — the Dented Yellow Cab.
It looked delicious, fruity and cool, and the weather had been uncomfortably warm — at least for me — so I drank the first one quickly. When the waitress returned to refill our drinks my husband shouted after her, “Make it a double!” I thought she knew he was kidding. She didn’t.
As we began eating, the waitress appeared for our third drink order. When she asked me if I was ready for another, Rich looked at me and laughed, “What she really needs is a Big Red Tow Truck!”
What a friend!
Needless to say, I drank only water the rest of the evening, but we laughed a lot anyway as friends are apt to do when they get together. Friends always help us find the laughter; at least it has always been so in my life. I like to think that my friends adhere to the maxim, “A true friend is someone who thinks that you are a good egg even though he knows that you are slightly cracked.”
That is why it is so easy for me to imagine that the life of the Apostles, as they spent it with Jesus, was filled with laughter in spite of the challenges.
How could anyone spend three years, night and day, with the perfect friend and not experience many moments of joy and laughter? Just imagine being with a group of close friends on the boat when Peter tried to walk on water, or recounting the looks on the Apostles faces when, looking at their meager stash of loaves and fishes and the 5,000 people gathered around, Jesus calmly says, “You feed them.”
I would guess that there was much laugher around the campfire or in the boat or at the evening meal! And you can’t convince me that Jesus, as a young man and guest at Cana, wasn’t among the men dancing their joy at the wedding feast!
Certainly our God, through whom all things were created, is the creator, also, of all that nurtures life and love. Without a doubt, laughter and joy top the list.
And as if to emphasize the point, when passing a local Protestant church this morning, I caught a glimpse of their outdoor sign, which read, “Seven days without laughter makes one weak.”
I think the same can be said of friends.
*The attached/referenced article was originally published in The Catholic Spirit, the official newspaper of the Diocese of Metuchen, and is protected under U.S. and international copyright law