I found this graphic add I did for a project in college and it made me laugh. Laughing at my design skills back then and laughing at memories that came flooding in from when I went skiing for the first time.
I was 14 and spent spring break in Breckenridge Colorado. My childhood friend and I were on our first trip together with our families. We were stoked!
We opted out for the ski school they offer and decided to hit the slopes. What’s the worst that could happen? I mean we are athletic; it can’t be that hard…
We started on the easy trails, taking it slow and just having fun. There’s nothing like breathing in the mountain air, sun shining on your face. After a while we decided to take a different ski slope to what we thought was going to be another beginner trail. Once we got off, we realized we were just a little higher up than before. Fear sank in and we realized we were on an expert slope. “Uh oh.” I thought, “This is gonna be tough.” We slowly proceeded down the mountain and within minutes we both crashed.
I locked eyes with my friend, and we started bursting into laughter. We both knew there was no way we were skiing down this mountain and it seemed we both had the same idea how to get down. So, on our bottoms, we started scooting down the mountain. We saw people we knew zoom by us and we laughed even harder. “This has gotta be the funniest sight.”
Eventually we got down, and like any smart person, we decided to call it a day. Throughout the trip we found ourselves laughing about how ridiculous we were.
We could have had a completely different response and cried the entire way down, or even called for help. But we chose to keep our joy.
Sometimes the mountain we face is so big, we forget to laugh.
In the Bible Sarah is filled with laughter when she gives birth to a son in her old age. But it took her a while to get to the laughter. God told her she would bear a child, but she didn’t believe it could happen for her. Instead of trusting Gods plan, Sarah took matters into her own hands and had her husband sleep with their slave Hagar- maybe their family could be built through her instead. In doing this, a lot of unnecessary pain and conflict arose.
Our God is a God who doesn’t break his promises and Sarah eventually did get pregnant.
Genesis 21:6 “God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me.” And she added, “who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”
Sometimes God surprises you with laughable circumstances.
Sometimes laughing at yourself can set you free.
Sometimes you need to pause and breathe in joy.
Sometimes you need to dance in the rain.
Sometimes you need to throw away your plans and enjoy the moment.
Sometimes you need to feel the sunshine on your face.
Sometimes you need be thankful for what you have instead of complaining about what you lack.
Sometimes you need to fall in love with the make-up free version of you.
Sometimes you need to be proud of how far you have come.
And sometimes you need to surrender and remember God is still writing your story.
Don’t forget to laugh.
