A Time to Laugh

You're listening to the My Morning Devotional Podcast, episode 1600. Today's Devo is called A Time to Laugh.

Hey there, we're the Alessis, a ministry family working together in our church in Miami, Florida. And if you're like us, when days get busy and to-do lists get longer, it can be hard to find devotional time. That's why we've partnered with our friend Allison to produce a five-minute daily dose of heaven. This is the My Morning Devotional Podcast.

Hello, everyone. My name is Lauren Burgos, and I have been your host for this week. I have loved this week, but I especially love this episode. So literally in the middle of recording it, I was like, I'm changing this episode. And we are talking about a time to laugh. We have talked about a time to trust, a time to wait, a time to grieve, a time to release. Just forgot that word. Now we're talking about a time to laugh. And um, well, actually, hold on, pause. Speaking of laughing and joy and celebrating and everything, today's our like 1600th episode, which is insane that we have 1600 episodes. Like, special thanks to everybody who's like listened to us that many times. That's actually pretty insane. Um, but wow, 1600 is I actually looked up what happened in the year 1600, and it was a pretty crazy year. There was a volcanic eruption in Peru. Um, there was an Italian scholar who was burned at the stake, and some of William Shakespeare's like arts got published in London. So that's pretty cool that that happened in the year 1600. So happy 1600 episodes to my morning devo. That is awesome. So today we are talking about a time to laugh. So, what does that mean? And I'm pulling up my notes again, but we're gonna start reading out of Psalm 126, one through three in the NIV, and it says this When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dreamed. Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy. The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy. I I want to take this one sentence at a time, and it says this when the Lord restored the fortunes of giants, we were like those who dreamed. Maybe you're somebody who you're in a tough season right now, and you don't even remember what it's like to dream. Maybe you're in that season of of grieving, or maybe you're in that season of of waiting, and you don't even remember what it was like to dream. I I'm praying that now a season comes where you can have you can remember what it's like to dream again. You can remember what it's like to laugh again. And it goes on to say, our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy. The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy. I okay, this is super nerdy, but there is a Harry Potter scene, and it's one of my favorite movies, where there is like a spell and there is like a dark character, and he comes out and he takes on the um, he takes on the what's the word I'm thinking of? Whatever. That character, the dark character, takes on the presence of your darkest fears. So for some people, it was a spider. And the teacher, the professor in Harry Potter school was like, the best way to kill this dark character is you have to laugh at it. Laughter is the ultimate killer. So it's such a cute scene because you see the spider come out and then they're like ridiculous. They say the spell. And I'm sorry if you think Harry Potter's demonic, but this scene is cute. And they're like, ridiculous, and then they all laugh, and then boom, the spider goes away. The dark character goes away, and then it comes back out and it takes on the kid's worst fear, which is a snake. And then they go ridiculous, and then they all laugh, and then boom, it goes away. But what we're learning here is that do you want to know the best way for like our deepest, darkest fears in life when we get anxious, when we really get overcome with fear? The best way to get rid of that, laugh at yourself. Be able to overcome the fear by simply laughing at the fear. Because sometimes I know, for me, when I mentioned like, I, yeah, there's times where me and my husband will have conversations and we laugh at ourselves because we we have these deep talks where it's like, and he's now in the booth listening to me. But we have these deep conversations where we're struggling with something, but it's also like, man, is this, are we gonna be this way forever? Is this the person that I married? But then the next conversation where we're just laughing about it, and it's like, yeah, it's just because you didn't wash a dish. And then we laugh about it and we get over it, and it's not that big of a deal, versus not talking about it and thinking, I have married the wrong person because I've harbored this resentment for years. You can't do that. One is gonna keep you in a place and in a season of total fear and total anxiety the rest of your life versus overcoming that fear with just recognizing it's the season to laugh and being able to laugh at yourself. So it's like we said there's a time for everything. There's a time to understand this change, this transition, this season is really, really hard. I I thought I'd meet somebody by now and I haven't. I thought I'd get pregnant by now and I haven't. I I I thought the change would come and it hasn't. Or this transition happened and it's not what I thought it would be like. And I I thought God would come through and He hasn't. And that is hard. And there's a season to sit in the toughness of it. That's all valid. But there is a season where you got to wake up and you got to be like, I thought life would look different by now, but it's not. And you got to be able to laugh at yourself and you got to be able to have a good day and be like the verse in Psalms that says this when the when the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dreamed. Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy. The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy. So, what does that look like? Think on the past, what has God done for you? Again, there's a season to be thinking of like, I thought this would look different, and that's hard, but then you got to overcome that with, okay, what has God done for me? God's provided great things in my past, He's gonna provide it again, and now I'm gonna speak joy. So let us just remember that there is a time for everything and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to grieve, a time to release, a time to wait, a time to trust, and a time to laugh. That's not what the Bible says. I'm just going off of this devotional's week. But, anyways, let us pray. Dear Lord, we thank you so much for just the ability to not just find conviction and sharpening and challenging in your word, but also the possibility to find laughter and joy and the ability to dream, Lord, when we read your word, God. Because you don't want us stuck in one season, God. You are the God who never changes, Lord, but you also want us to experience differences and changes in our lives, God. So help us to do that. If we're in a tough season, Lord, help us to experience joy in that season, Lord. Help us to experience even laughter in that season and true, deep, guttural joy. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

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