“Then our mouth was filled…”

Mary and I sat side by side on an airplane for the first time in three months.  Mary’s rehabilitation from a cycling accident on July 10 forced a reduced pace that subsided only slightly last week on a short journey to the west coast.

Sitting side by side we talked and reflected and marveled and wondered.  Several hours on an airplane gave us a clean canvas.  We didn’t plan or work or worry; instead we squeezed the precious juice out of every moment together.

But it was laughter that I will remember most from our flight between Denver and San Jose.  We made each other laugh.  We were witty and funny and unguarded – like a great tennis rally; back and forth we made each other laugh.

One of the grand measures of a healthy relationship is the ability, in a one-on-one setting, to make each other laugh.  Laughter releases what duty, and commitment, and service protect.  Beyond the tenderness and tears and pain and solidarity and fidelity is an unleashed and unabashed laughter.   When couples that have been married for 34 years can laugh together there is no pretense or posturing.  It’s real.

Laughter is the fruit of the crops sown in sorrow and suffering.

Then our mouth was filled with laughter,
        and our tongue with shouts of joy;
    then they said among the nations,
        “The LORD has done great things for them.”
    The LORD has done great things for us;
        we are glad.
(Psalm 126:2-3 ESV)

Is it possible that the great things of God unlock our laughter?

What I know for sure is that on Southwest flight 1396 we laughed.

A deep, authentic, reckless laugh.

It was the language of joy.

It was the measure of our love.

It was a gift from God.

“Then our mouth was filled with laughter,”

Our souls overflowed with more of Him and our hearts were brimming…

Weeks of tears had watered the soil of genuine love and respect, and laughter was the abundant harvest; and it was wonderful.