Jolly Belongs in Christmas

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“A happy heart makes the face cheerful.”
Proverbs 15:13, NIV

I was reading through the Sunday newspaper, browsing more like it. I really only bought it for the coupon clipping. But good editors know how to grab you with the headlines.

I’d only gotten five minutes in, and I was already depressed. I remembered why I rarely read the newspaper and barely watch the news anymore. ISIS, Ebola, racial riots, economy debates and political division all on display begging to rile me to action somehow.

Ahhh, the coupons, buried beneath a huge pile of slick advertisements for holiday “savings.” It took me forever just to find a dollar off my favorite paper towels and twenty-five cents off a cereal that my youngest will eat. Out of dozens of pages of coupons, I clipped maybe five that I could actually use. The rest weren’t really deals…just disguised to look like deals. I admit to having been frustrated.

As I tossed the paper in my recycling pile, a cluster fell out of somewhere in the middle. It was the comics. I couldn’t read many of them because they weren’t appropriate, but a few of them made me laugh out loud. A few of them I sent to others I knew who would get a giggle out of ’em.

It’s simple, and maybe a little bit cheesy, but it simply reminded me that “jolly” belongs in Christmas. Throughout the headlines of all the ick that comes during the holidays, through the shopping and traffic, through the gatherings, programs and celebrations…through family drama, through all kinds of other losses and conflicts, stress and hubbub…let’s remember to look for opportunities to smile, and by all means, help others do the same.

“For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven…A time to cry, and a time to laugh.”
Ecc. 3:1,4a

Let’s not get so sober and serious that we forget the meaning of “Merry” Christmas. It might be something our kids do, more likely something we do or say. It might be something so unexpected we will tell the story for years to come. Let’s lighten up as the Lord gives us opportunities and make Christmas brighter for our families and others around us. It can’t be all fun and games, and we need to be mindful of those hurting who need us to grieve with them, but it can be some fun and games for sure.

I don’t know, I needed the reminder, so I thought you might too. Here’s to a good belly laugh today. Maybe you could even leave some funny Christmas stories and jokes in the comments and spread the jolly.

A cheerful heart is good medicine,
but a broken spirit saps a person’s strength.
Proverbs 17:22, NLT

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*comic credit: http://jinglebelljunction.com/funny-christmas-comics/christmas-comic-019/

**Cover graphic purchased from www.dreamstime.com

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LauraLee Shaw
Latest posts by LauraLee Shaw (see all)
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