Proverbs 17:22 says, “A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.”

     As I have gotten older, I have had to take several medications for one thing or another. I also take a handful of vitamins to keep me going. Every twenty eight days I fill my medical slots with enough medicine to keep me going. Such vitamins as Zinc, Vitamin C, Vitamin B-12, Vitamin B Complex, etc.

     There is a medicine prescribed in the book of Proverbs called laughter. Solomon, the writer of the book of Proverbs discovered how laughter can be helpful in so many ways.

     Scientists in the medical field have also seen the value of laughter. The testimony of Norman Cousins is very convincing of laughter’s curative powers. He wrote back in 1954 that he flew back home from an overseas trip and came down with a fever. Within a week he was in the hospital, and was diagnosed with a kind of arthritic degenerative disease. The prognosis for him was paralysis for the rest of his life, at worst death. Most people would have thrown up their hands and said let the disease run its course and died. But not Norman Cousins.

     Cousins couldn’t seem to improve while in the hospital. The longer he was there and the more medication he took the worse he got. So finally he asked his doctor, who was also his friend, if he could experiment with some unorthodox methods. He stopped all drugs and checked into a room across from the hospital. He began taking large doses of Vitamin C and he began to watch  old movies of comedians from years gone by. Alan Funt, a friend of Cousins, gave him piles of film from the popular show Candid Camera. He watched films from Abbot and Costello (remember who’s on First). He got old films of Charlie Chaplain, etc. He laughed and laughed at the zany comedian’s as they entertained him.

     In due time he began to get better and better. Over a few weeks he was doing so well that he went home and began to return to his work. Norman Cousins swore that the reason for his good health was due to the laughter. By the way the Proverbs verse says, “A cheerful heart does good, like a medicine.”

     God has designed us to have a built in medicine producer called laughter. Laughter has many benefits. Consider this: Laughter relaxes your body; it boosts your immune system; it triggers the release of endorphins in the brain; it lightens angers heavy load, it also burns calories. Nothing defuses anger like a good laugh.

     Isn’t it time to lighten up, laugh more. Especially at the faux pas we commit. Sometime ago, instead of saying, “please bow your heads and close your eyes as we pray.” I got it backwards and said, “please bow your eyes and close your heads.” I read where one Minister said to his congregation, “The Lord loves a cheerful liver.” He should have said, “The Lord loves a cheerful giver.”

     If the medicine called laughter was good enough for Solomon and Norman Cousins, it should be good enough for you and me.

Pastor Gene Wells