Blessing and Laughter in Times Like These

     With everyone staying inside, we can get bored if alone.  There is not a lot to keep us busy.  I try to not spend too much time on social media.  I find it shameful to have spent more than an hour on social media.  What kind of purpose is it?  What do you accomplish?  There is no blessing in social media if it takes away hours of time.  Blessings come with laughter, finishing a project, enjoying friends, accomplishing a goal, or just being happy.  Blessings can be found in times like we have today, social distancing due to a pandemic. 
     Instead of looking at your current condition, seek out a blessing or become a blessing.  A blessing to an elderly neighbor may be your phone call to let them know you care.  Blessing to the lady in line behind you could be a thoughtful word of encouragement.  Blessing to a child home alone could be the delivery of a meal.  An action does not have to be big to be a blessing, but it takes you not dwelling on yourself but considering others.  Then, when you consider others, you are no longer focused on your problems but the needs of someone else.   For me, I don’t have to search far for blessings because I have twelve very special blessings.
    Half of my blessings live in Charlotte and Tennessee.  With all of us being bound to staying close to home, they bless me with their laughter via FaceTime.  It blesses me that they send me messages.  Their parents bless me too, because they don’t let this pandemic take away the laughter and love they have and share.  
     Then, the other half of my blessings live nearby.  I was able to have four of them over for a few hours yesterday after they had completed their homework.  First, Luke (5 years old) arrives and goes straight to my bedroom closet where I store his favorite LEGOS.  These LEGOS belonged to his father.  Now, Luke focuses for hours on building cars, motorcycles, and houses.  Then, Matti and Mark arrive and join Luke on my bedroom floor where more construction begins.  Mark created a wagon being pulled by a horse.   I sit with them and help them find pieces they need.  Then, Lily comes and runs to the playroom where she likes to play with the trains.  She organizes the trains in the station.  Next, she asks for great grandpa’s puzzles.  My husband’s father’s hobby was woodwork and he made wood puzzles for my children.  Lily loves puzzles.  When Mattie saw Lily with the puzzles, she asked for the hard puzzles.  Paul made puzzles with shapes.  I pulled out the easiest of these puzzles.  Matti, Mark, and Luke all wanted it first.  Since Mark (8 years old) thought he could do it faster, I let him have it first.  Mattie (10 years old) did not want to wait, so I pulled out one with fifteen pieces, but the shapes have more curves than angles.  It took Mark one hour and forty-five minutes, and Mattie worked over two hours.  Their faces not only shined with a smile but a sense of accomplishing the impossible.  I was blessed with seeing them happily play and accomplish a task.
     My biggest blessing was the laughter.  Laughter has helped me through many hard times.  Yes, laughter.  My mother was sick often and many times we waited in hospital waiting rooms not knowing if this was the final.  I was a teenager and carried the heavy burden of worry for my younger siblings with two being under eight years old when her illness began.  I found telling jokes or making light of something helped.  It didn’t take away the burden, but a visit with someone willing to just find something to bring laughter was a blessing.  So, in these times, don’t dwell on what might happen, but be courageous, kind, and a blessing to someone today.

For me, this verse is so true today.

Grandchildren are the crown of the aged, and the glory of children is their fathers.    Proverbs 17:6 (ESV)