laughing is my favorite

This weekend I took my cousin Beth with me to come speak at a women's conference.
There is one thing that Beth and I love to do when we are together.
We love to laugh. And we do love some coffee.
But mostly we love to laugh.
When life is real and hard and stressful, there is almost nothing better
than a good belly laugh.
And I think that Jesus knew that I needed a good long laugh to start off the New Year.
To shake off the stress and sit back with one of my most favorite people
and laugh until my stomach hurt.
We got to meet two new friends this weekend, Kristin and Michele,
bosom friends, pastor's wives, Jesus lovers.
They did a breakout session on soul friendship.
Seeing how they loved each other through the most difficult of times was beautiful.
But seeing how their souls were knit together with laughter,
was truly refreshing.
Their enacting of their dream to go on the Amazing Race together
almost sent me right over the edge.
I told Beth, "I could listen to them all day." All day.
I had to tell them at dinner last night,
"Girls, as my dad would say, you need to take this show on the road."
Because everyone could use a good dose of joy,
a moment of gasping for air at the thought of the craziness of life
and how it can take us right out at knees, and how, if we can find it,
even in the saddest of situations, laughter can open us up to be real and honest
with each other and ourselves.
I always think that if we are laughing at ourselves it is a whole lot easier to hear the
truth about who we really are.
Otherwise, we usually just cry. And I, personally, enjoy laughter more than crying.
So I am thankful for my cousin who has one of the most infectious laughs I have ever heard,
for new friends to laugh with and for the kind of laughing that leaves you a little teary,
a little out of breath and a little more free than you were before.
Like I said, laughing is my favorite.