Laughter

Last Saturday I picked up a book at the library, PONTOON by Garrison Keillor. I didn't know why I was drawn to it. I've read a few of his other books and always enjoyed his gift of storytelling. It is one of his Lake Wobegon tales. Slow moving and peopled with quirkiness from that mythical town.

I lit a cigar - about a two hour one - and decided to finish the tale. It had moved slowly, as his stories often do, meandering through people's ordinary lives but it wound down to a hysterical conclusion, an ending I won't attempt to recapture. I laughed as I've not laughed in a very long time; side splitting, tears running down my face laughter.

The laughter cleared the pipes out leaving me at a point of peace. I closed the book, glanced up and saw the full moon reflected in a window on the backside of our home. I got up to watch it complete its rise above our virginia-creeper clothed garden shed.

Bathed in the moonlight, I suddenly knew what a marvelous gift laughter is from Abba's hand. A taste of our God-imageness; something that offers healing for our seemingly endless brokenness.