I’ve never been good at fake laughing pictures.
No, like I was serious.
But today, I’ll choose to focus on the stuff that makes me laugh rather than the things that worry me—like the fact that I really may never take a good fake laughing picture.
We’ve all heard the verse from Proverbs 31:25. “She is clothed with strength and dignity and she laughs without fear of the future.”
But there is still something in these words that challenges me every single day.
"Without fear of the future."
I don’t know about you, but I can’t really remember the last time I laughed without fear of the future. Sure, I laugh. A lot, too! But in the back of my mind, a million things are running through: You really need to clean your fish bowl. Like Mom might ground you if you don’t clean your fish bowl. You have got to stop filling your body with diet soft drinks because they’re probably eroding your intestines. Wait that’s just a myth right? I really can drink as much caffeine as I need to right? Also, you've got to paint your nails!!!!! They look awful!
And now you people see why I really needed to blog in order to stop talking to myself.
Today, I am challenged by a girl who lives out that phrase in Proverbs 31:25—Sarah in Genesis 21. Thanks to the Lord, she was going to have a baby after years of infertility. Years!! However, she wasn’t your average cute, pregnant, early thirty-something who is having baby showers while glowing and is getting massages because she is just too young and cute for stretch marks.
Nope, Sarah was 90. And Abraham was 100. I think back to the Father of the Bride 2 scene when those two old folks found out they were about to have another child. I think about the meltdowns they had. I think about how hard it would be to have children at such a late stage in life.
But with Sarah and Abraham, it was different. God fulfilled His promise and healed Sarah from infertility by providing her with a son, Isaac.
And at 90 years old, Sarah chose worry over laughter. She could have thought about how gray her hair would look in the classic mother and newborn shots, but she didn’t. She decided to laugh—without fear of the future, to consider her blessings in a way in which she was not worried. To laugh, with joy, because God had provided YET AGAIN.
“Sarah said, ‘God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me.‘” –Genesis 21:6.
I know what you’re thinking. What a great verse to put as a caption on your next laughing picture. And I just wanna say I’m still bitter because I’ll never be able to take a laughing picture.
Example B:
Nope…. I wasn’t kidding.
However, I’m gonna choose what Sarah chose today. When things get tough, when things get frustrating, when things get uneasy, I’m just gonna laugh. Because though many things surpass my understanding, my God holds me in His palm each and every second.
Thanks for reading the words on my heart today!