Yesterday was a fantastic day. Not only did I get to get my
haircut (exciting, I know, but I’d been talking about it for months!), but I
also got to meet up with a group of Moms from my parish and chat with them
about all kinds of trivial and not so trivial things. And at the end of the
day, I got to hear the best sound in the world: My baby laughed.
The first time he laughed was over a month ago, but at this
point he’s not a giggly baby. His laughs are few and far between, and so still so special. Usually, he opens his mouth into
the biggest smile possible and just sort of squeaks at me—like he wants to
laugh, but just doesn’t know how. Last night, though, he was ticklish and
chuckling. Apparently “This Little Piggy” is actually quite funny.
Laughter is one of those things I usually take for granted;
I laugh more easily with friends and those I love than otherwise, and while I
do at times tend to be more serious, it is not because I cannot laugh. This
little baby has taught me to realize how beautiful and profound that ability is.
Because his laughter has come out with his personality-- it is more beautiful
because it is innocent, because we have to work for it, because we have to
learn what he finds funny. He is an individual with a sense of humor and his laughter
is one of the first signs of who he will be.
These thoughts remind me of something a professor once said
to me: The devil has no sense of humor because laughter is an indication that
we do not take ourselves or this world too seriously, which is what the devil
does. The innocent child’s laughter helps us to see this; he is not burdened by
sin, and so he sees simple things in this world and laughs because of the joy
of them. Christ enables us to continue laughing as adults because he enables us
to laugh at our mistakes and follies, although they are serious, for he has redeemed
them. This is why I love this cheesy picture- which is so cheesy- but I love it because it is a picture of Jesus as a human person, laughing with the freedom
that we all should have, rather than as a moral teacher or judge who takes us
to task for our failings (which is how I tend to see him in my mind):
Christ allows us to relax, to find humor in little things
and in our many absurdities, enabling us to use these failings as opportunities
to see his goodness and greatness in the everyday. My child’s laughter, coming
from the sheer joy of having his father toss a toy on his lap, is even more like
Jesus’ laughter than my laughter can be.
As adults, we usually laugh at absurdities or
incongruities—and this does keep us from taking ourselves too seriously, which
is great. But Peter’s laughter is purer than that. Instead, it is a reminder of
the joy of being alive, of his being a person
with a sense of humor, and of the hope
we all have in things to come. It is a result of the joy of being loved and the
nature of the world-- that some things, for no apparent reason at all, are just
funny! Like this:
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