God, You Are Joyful. — Rita Finch Pettit

A joyful heart is good medicine,
but a crushed spirit dries up the bones. Proverbs 17:22 (ESV)

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven…
a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance… Ecclesiastes 3:1, 4 (ESV)

Lounging by a pool in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

Does God laugh?

I don’t want to be presumptuous, but…absolutely.

I almost heard Him chuckle when an iguana showed up poolside at a lovely Puerto Vallarta resort we were visiting. The lizard peeked around a planter, then strutted out when certain that the coast was clear.

It struck a pose and remained motionless for two or three minutes, giving the tourist paparazzi plenty of time to get their photos. The iguana seemed to be thinking, “Look at me, you ugly humans. Aren’t I fine, with all my perfect scales and spikes? Jealous much?”

My fear of becoming part of a taste test dissipated as the creature crawled away at a leisurely pace, probably to a posh suite with a minifridge stocked with fresh greens.

Then there was this unexpected visitor to the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport:

What page of the TSA manual covers the protocol for pigeons? I cannot even imagine how many frequent flyer miles this guy has accumulated. I bet he was going business class.

I come from a funny family. And by “funny,” I don’t mean weird, although we could be that too. No, I mean Mama and Daddy and my sister Zita had a wonderful sense of humor. Growing up in the Finch family meant searching for the ridiculous in hard things and riding a wave of merriment in good times.

Genesis 1:27 says God “created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” (ESV) I think that means that the joy I experience when laughing with family and friends is just a small taste of divine mirth. God laughs, so we do, too.

Like every good thing, however, humor can be corrupted. I can use it to slice and dice my fellow man and inflict wounds that take a long time to heal.

That’s why I must keep the sentiment of Proverbs 16:24 in my heart: “Gracious words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the body.” (ESV)

Jesus, I wish I could have heard Your laughter. I imagine Heaven is filled with it, ringing out over the angels’ hallelujahs. Thank You, blessed Trinity—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—for Your joyful nature, and for giving us a glimpse of Your supernatural camaraderie. In Jesus’s name I pray. Amen.