NorthStar Community Daily Devotional

April 3

This month’s devotionals were written in grateful collaboration with my mother-in-law, who passed away a little over a week ago.

Scripture focus: A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones. Proverbs 17:22 NIV

Everyone who met Marion said she always came dressed for any occasion with a beautiful smile. This smile came attached to an easily triggered sense of humor. She loved to laugh – especially at herself. Many of her funniest stories were ones she told on herself. When I first came into the family, I learned who each family member was through a series of funny stories. Marion had three sons. The oldest, Mark, loved to tell about the time he brought his friend home for a visit.

As the story goes, the family decided to travel to the coast and get a tasty lobster dinner in honor of Mark’s visitor. The meal was delicious. Butter dripped onto fingers and down the arms as each member ripped into their respective lobsters.

Full from the feast, Marion decided to not let the rest of her uneaten lobster go to waste. Always the consummate hostess, she turned to Mark’s friend and said, “Would you like my body?”

A long pause was followed by hysterical laughter as she and the guys realized what she had said. We still laugh at the retelling of this moment in history, when Nana offered her body to her son’s teenage friend!

Laughing at ourselves is a good thing. Because we’re always going to do goofy things, laughter truly is a healing tonic.

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