Scripture

A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit saps a person’s strength.

~Proverbs 17:22, NLT

Quote

Many sicknesses are psychosomatic, brought on by emotional stress such as worry, anger, hatred, self-pity and guilt.

~John Philips

I am aware that I used this verse a few days ago but I came across it again and I want to share some thoughts with you. Preachers tell jokes often and some tell a joke as soon as they get up and there is a reason for their humor. Laughter cuts the tension in the room. If you can get an audience to laugh, it helps you relax. If I can get relaxed, it helps my ability to recall what I have studied. Laughter works, it is a great stress reliever. I’m not talking about fools who never take anything serious and make jokes about everything. All the people I hang out with have a sense of humor. To be honest with you, if you don’t have a sense of humor you will find it difficult to relate to me at all. I had a man to invite me to play on his team in a golf tournament. I told him, “I am horrible at golf, you don’t want me on your team.” “Yes I do”, he said, “I want you along for fellowship. You will have a joke or funny story for every hole.” You can take life too seriously or not serious enough. I guess we need to hit a happy medium.

Dr. Hans Seyle, former director of the University of Montreal’s Institute of Experimental Medicine did a lot of research with mice. He said that you can put a mouse in a cage and sit it beside a cage with a cat inside and the mouse will die from stress and anxiety in hours. The cat cannot get to the mouse but it’s nearness or presence killed the mouse with stress. Seyle discovered that when you put mice in a stressful environment, it will cause physical issues like high blood pressure, the swelling of glands and many other symptoms. He also said that hatred, anger, frustration and worry are the most harmful causes of stress. People who cause stress usually go on their merry way oblivious to the damage they have done. It is like the person who said to June and I a couple of years ago, “I use to think your kids would not amount to much but they turned out pretty good.” When we got in the car, I said to June, “Was that a compliment? Somehow, I do not feel that it was.” Learn to laught at yourself; don’t always make others the butt of your jokes.

Extra

We got .79 of rain. Not quite an inch but it will help. They had to run the A/C at the Basketball game last night but it is frigid this morning. Bailey Christmas in Athens tonight. I hope you have a great Friday and thanks for reading the blog.