Where's The Laughter?

 Have you ever been so cranky you're just agitated with everything in sight?

The way the mailman crumpled your package...

How you haven't made time to fix the broken window shield in the front of your car...

How your children run in from school and immediately drop everything to the floor because they don't have ample time at school to properly use the restroom?

The way a certain someone chews their food...

You have to wear button up pants, and button up pants make you have a headache...

How everyone wants to climb and touch you all the time... 

How someone slams the toilet from the other room...

How the laundry is NEVER finished and socks will forever be turned inside out...

How you spoke horribly to someone this morning and can't fix it till later...

NO. Just me, eh? Well, this story starts with one agitated mother and ends with a bag of cheese.

I was going about my business and all of the above events, plus a dozen more that I won't be vulnerable enough to enlighten you with, occurred. All in one morning. Before school drop-off. I realized my hands were gripping the steering wheel so hard my knuckles were white. I took a big breath and said, "Lord, I need some joy - no not joy, I need some laughter. I need to change my headspace."

Side note - we all have access to joy. If we are walking with the Lord, it is IN us. If we are abiding in his spirit it is a FRUIT of abiding in him. It doesn't mean I walk around laughing hysterically all the time with a smile on my face (maybe sometimes ;)) It DOES mean I walk around knowing how to praise God and call on him in the little hail storms, or the big ones too. Because the JOY of the LORD is my strength! Happiness and joy are two very different things. One is an emotion and one is a fruit of the spirit. I can rely on joy, and not on happiness. I can rely on joy because it is in me just waiting for me to tap into it.

So, I get the kids dropped off and I say to myself, "I'm gonna go to the grocery for my Thanksgiving shopping and take as much time as I need - with my coffee in hand." I realize this may seem like a pathetic space for some to find something to look forward to, but I fully believe, for me, the heavenly realms may just be at Aldi...or Kroger. I love talking to people and there are ample amounts of people here. Also, I have space to think without four other humans talking at the same time.

I make my rounds to all the departments, saying hello to all the peeps that obviously came just to talk to me today. From the jolly man named Fred in produce who recognizes me even in my mask, to Melissa in the bakery, and to all the others whom are frequenting the store. I look down at my watch and in my haze of enjoyment I realize I have squandered 2 hours!!!!! 2 hours at the grocery! I quickly make my way to the checkout...and there is a line. But that is ok, because I still have hustle juice left and I'll call my mom while I wait. 

A lane opens and I unload all the groceries. I help bag the groceries in my reusable bags and I see the line behind me. I start to get anxious. I hate inconveniencing people so I am rushing around. Trying to talk to the cashier and bag quickly as I see the impatient people behind me. And do you know what happened next...

I turn around to throw my shredded cheese into the cold bag I had already packaged up and completely unbeknownst to me the cashier had walked around the counter to place something into my cart and I CLOCKED her in the head with my bag of cheese! Cue awkward silence and jaws ajar.

I was mortified! I was torn with continuing to bag as fast as I could to get out of there or go around the corner and take care of the victim who had been cheesed. I apologized profusely, continually even as I was driving my cart out of the store. I felt horrible. My morning had been ruined. Because of a stupid mistake I made.

I got in my car and immediately started to feel pity! I even video texted a few close people that I was confident would not have judged me, because they know me, and this is just a regular for Elly.

As I was talking with friends, I began to laugh it off.

We make mistakes people. And sometimes they are really big ones that effect others. But if I sit and wallow in the mistake it makes it all worse. God wants us to access joy all the time. I thought about how my youngest can be so hard on himself when he makes a mistake and I just want him to know the mistake was made, we apologize and move on. God wants that for us too.

So I made myself laugh. At first I sounded ridiculous, but as I did it was therapeutic. So I laughed at myself and the next day I showed up with a cup of coffee to apologize to the cashier. She was super forgiving and even looked at me ridiculously. But yet accepted my apology and even smiles at me now when I see her.

We have a choice. We have a choice to sit and criticize every part of ourselves, others included, or we can look for where we can laugh at ourselves. Some mistakes take years to be able to laugh about, but I needed to find some laughter in the small things to change my perspective TODAY. 

As my week progressed I tried to laugh in my mistakes or frustrations...and it worked.

As I tried to do laundry and complete my quarterly replacing of children sheets, I found myself fitted in a sheet.

When I got into bed I found a spider under my pillow - which was plastic, placed by a child to make me giggle and is a prank my kids and I have continued playing on each other since then.

Racing a child to the towels when my glass of wine spilled all over my beautiful, white, table runner.

Laughing when I wanted to cry because I sat and waited for the whole coffee pot to run and realizing I had not added the grounds.

I still have a lot of grace to give myself and others. But I'm trying. We all have access to the laughter, just like we do joy, but we have to tap the button to release it.

I'd love to hear how you find some laughter in an unexpected circumstance, today! I thought these were fitting for me too...but I did not buy them...I just chuckled. Because in this time of COVID precautions it seems even funnier to me.