I love high schoolers.
Some people may think I’m crazy, but only because they don’t get to time week after week to just hang out with them and find out what really going on in their hearts and minds. More than that, I don’t think the people that say I’m crazy have ever gotten to just LAUGH with a group of high school students. They’re good laugh-ers.
This year on Thursday nights for youth group we’ve done a lot of laughing. I think it’s really good for their souls to connect joy with their faith (and the reality is that I need that connection as well!)
We all need permission to throw marshmallows at each other every once in a while.
We need to let the game of spoons get a little extreme.
We need to run around and be loud out in the country at a bonfire event.
They need chances to just be kids. And I do too.
A recent stat I saw on Facebook said that children laugh about 200 times a day, yet by adulthood, it drops down to 15. Now I’m not sure how reliable my sources are, but I think we get the picture. Somewhere we’ve lost our laughter.
Jesus said many, many times while on earth that we should have faith like a child. One of the benefits that I think that comes out of that is the ability to keep our laugher. When the problems of life overwhelm and the daily tasks of adulthood tempt to crowd out our joy, let’s choose to trust God a little and find a reason to laugh anyway. Perhaps laughter in the face of trials is one way we can tell Satan to back off, that our God is in control, to literally laugh in his face as we rest in our daddy’s arms.
So laugh a little today and invite a friend to join you!
If you need a little help to start laughing here are some ideas:
- check out this SkitGuys video we watch as part of youth group last night.
- Take silly selfies making weird faces but tell yourself not to laugh while you’re doing it
- Look in the mirror and start fake laughing, you’ll end up really laughing
- Spend time around funny people
- Hang out with little kids (or high schoolers!) laugh whenever they laugh
Jesus, teach us to trust, teach us to laugh. Amen
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