Weekly Thought – September 22, 2026
Fred was known for his sense of humor. His capacity to remember punch lines amazed his friends. One sleepless night he made a mental list of 200 “stories.” He found humor in the strangest places. When asked about this, he said, “I either laugh or have high blood pressure.” When the children misbehaved he often reminded his wife Mary Alice, “the things we cry about today we will laugh about tomorrow.”
Humor is for Grownups
There’s no way to be truly mature without a well-developed sense of humor. Humor is accepting the fallibility of man – it resides in the area between perfection and imperfection, between where we are where we would like to be (or people think we are). The ability to laugh at yourself will insulate you from other ego mistakes.
Christianity Today’s Leadership Journal did a survey of its readers about content preferences. Not surprisingly, they found the first thing people read were the cartoons. Often, the most profound messages are contained in dialogue balloons.
One of my great stress relievers has been to see the funny side of my mistakes. It is easy to save face by laughing. Making ourselves human by the use of humor is a good technique. Humor is part of a healthy rhythm of life. It relieves the monotony.
But humor can be abused. I think sarcasm and malicious practical jokes are poorly disguised hostility. People who use humor to embarrass, castigate, or ostracize are cruel. Misused humor is a sign of immaturity.
Humor is communal – we like to laugh together. A friend told me he called a school friend every Sunday and read the comic pages together. I ran into my good friend Charlie “Tremendous” Jones, the international speaker and writer, at the Chicago airport. He gave me his world-famous Charlie hug, then handed me a book saying, “Read this!” For the next hour, we read pages of extemporaneous speeches collected in a book. We could have wasted the time with small talk, but instead we shared an hour of good-natured laughter.
Humor is developed as is appreciation for art or music. Understanding the responsibility of using humor well is part of the maturity process. The wise and good use allows us to improve relationships, relieve tension, provide psychological breaks, reduce conflict, and add an emotional lubricant to any situation.
This week consider: 1) What makes me laugh? 2) When is the last time I chose laughter over high blood pressure? 3) How am I teaching others to laugh?
Words of Wisdom: “Laugh or have high blood pressure.”
Wisdom from the Word: “At that time we laughed loudly and shouted for joy!” (Psalm 126:2 NET Bible)