No one can make me laugh like my sister Linda. She has a host of disabilities, doesn't work or drive, needs Food Stamps, has no boy friend, husband, or child, but she has the fastest wit of anyone I've ever met. Her ministry in life is to make people smile and laugh, and she bestows those jokes and laughter on everyone she meets - the clerks at Dollar General, the cab drivers of various nationalities, mostly Middle Eastern, who value her empathy, the Doctors she visits for various maladies. She's learned that humor is the great leveler, accessible and irresistible to every race and social class.
Pope Francis is never seen without a smile. He mugs for the camera, tries on various hats, hugs and kisses children and babies with abandon, makes orthopedic shoes fashionable, and prefers eating with the homeless to eating with Congress. He's learned that if you want to be Christ-like, above all else you need to welcome people to be personally close to you by giving them a smile, embrace, - and often a kiss.
A smile is love made visible and active on our faces. A laugh is proof that life is good in spite of every tragedy that haunts us. Pope Francis says "Life is a journey. When we stop, things don't go right." Smiles and laughter are the biggest sign that we give to the world, ourselves, and God that we are not yet ready to yell "Stop the world, I want to get off."
Faith and experience tell us that life is constantly changing, God Who loves us is in charge, and that if we're crying this morning, we can still be laughing this evening. We know that we can find love in an opening flower in the Spring and a vivid leaf fall in the Autumn. If we had surgery this Winter, we can take a Snow Bird trip next Winter. If a friend or loved one dies this month, a baby may be born for us to love next month. If we walk away from one job, a better one may be right around the corner.
If a spouse leaves us, or dies, we can still store up enough love and hope and joy and trust in our hearts to be ready when love decides to appear again. No person who dies or leaves is ever replaceable, but we live on a world filled to overflowing abundance of people, animals, birds, trees, water, and plants who want and need whatever love we can give and who, in their own ways, will love us back. Because however much we give to life will come back to us to bless us and fill us with joy.
Make yourself a promise every day that you will never give up on life because God Who is abundant Life and Love will never give up on you. Make yourself a promise to find someone or something to make you smile and laugh every day, so that you taste the deep-down sweetness of life. Make yourself a promise to actively give love to someone or something every day of your life so that you spread goodness and love and know that indeed you are useful. Make yourself a promise that every day you will hunt for and find someone or something that is beautiful, to remind yourself that the gift of life has surpassing beauty. Remember: Life is a journey. When we stop smiling, laughing, and loving, things most definitely won't go right!