What is laughter? What is laughter? It is God waking up! O it is God waking up.
I recite the 23rd Psalm most mornings during meditation. Dr. Mary Neal in her book, To Heaven and Back, set me to thinking in a different way about the valley of the shadow of death. “Rather than thinking it referred to one’s own death and the dangerous journey back to God,” she writes, “Now I believe it actually refers to the people who are left behind to grieve.”
I’ve been walking through the valley of the shadow now since July 11, 2012 when the Rose Man made his transition, and more recently with the passing of my mother on March 10, 2013. I think the key word here is “through.” Some get stuck there; stuck in the valley. There are moments when I miss my husband and mom even more today as the long-term reality settles in; the desire to share every day occurrences with them, e.g., the Seahawks winning the Super Bowl and the victory parade down 4th Avenue. Well, that’s not an every day occurrence is it? Still, I believe that I’ve passed through the valley and, as the Psalm promised, I’ve not been alone.
A dear friend shared the following: “There is a quote from the book, ‘Irrefutable Scientific Facts,’ that says, ‘If your grandparents died, and their parents before them, death could be hereditary in your family!’ There is a part of me,” she writes, “that still refuses to believe this, despite strong family history that this could be true for me. I tend to think if I exercise, avoid gluten, think righteous and loving thoughts, and take supplements from Life Extension, I will beat the odds!”
Life is good when humor and laughter prevail. Eh?
What is this precious love and laughter / Budding in our hearts? / It is the glorious sound / of a soul waking up! From I Heard God Laughing; renderings of Hafiz by Daniel Ladinsky
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