One of the cool things that makes people special, and that I appreciate very much, is our ability to laugh. There is no animal that laughs. There are some critters who can mimic the sounds–like parrots and hyenas. But no other creature has a funny bone like people do. We can hear a joke or watch a video on YouTube or simply think of something in our own heads and get an emotional response that can’t be contained by our bodies. And this crazy sound erupts from our mouths and we can shake and cry and release chemicals in our bodies and get all sorts of wild physiological responses to something that just happened to be “funny”. At times, as much as we try, we can’t even stop it. And the more we fight it the harder it seems.
Of course there’s no need for laughter. It’s obviously not something that nature requires for survival. It would be silly to think that laughter evolved to serve some purpose. But can you imagine what the world would be like without laughter?
Obviously God must have a good sense of humor, otherwise nobody would. So I’m thankful that God created us to laugh, to find joy in things, and even when things are at their worst sometimes to be able to laugh at our own situation, and help others by sharing humor.
Thank you Jesus for creating funny bones!