Researchers say that children laugh around four hundred times a day, whereas adults, on average, only laugh fifteen times a day. Why is this? Do we stop laughing because we are old, or do we get old because we stop laughing? There are, of course, different types of laughter: there’s the laughter at someone else’s expense, the laughter in response to something crude, and the laughter that’s just a cover for the emptiness we feel. The Bible says, ‘Like the crackling of thorns under the pot, so is the laughter of fools,’and ‘Even in laughter the heart may ache.’ But it also says ‘A cheerful heart is good medicine.’
It’s interesting to note that one of the constantly recurring statements Jesus made was: ‘Be of good cheer,’ or, as we would say, ‘Cheer up.’ One of the things that faith does for us is to help us laugh again.