Laughing Faith

photo by Sara Ann Green Photography

“You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” Psalm 16:11

Two things make me roll my eyes: When we don’t take our faith seriously and when we think our faith means we always have to be serious. Every single college girl to whom I’ve ever spoken has gotten my lecture on this. We step onto a college campus thinking there are only two options: party with the fun people or sit alone in your dorm room reading the Bible. There may be a time or two when that’s the scenario, but generally, NO, FALSE, UNTRUE, GIANT RED X, not a great way to approach life. Frat houses do not have the market cornered on fun. UGH, IT MAKES ME SO MAD TO THINK WE WOULD GIVE UP ON FUN.

The truth is that the deeper my faith journey goes, the louder I laugh, the more fun I have, and the more I feel unabashedly happy, like there’s something to really celebrate here. It’s a dance, the serious with the silly, but they belong together like a wonky misfit marriage that somehow results in the most beautiful family. Their house is the one where you feel safe to laugh and cry, to worship wholeheartedly, to wrestle through doubt and disappointment, to abandon carefully crafted persona in favor of honest weirdness, to stop pretending.

Are there times when life brings about inexpressible grief and we wonder if we’ll ever laugh again? Oh yes. I do believe that, and we should mourn our losses wholeheartedly. None of this is meant to diminish the significant grief many of us endure. The gospel story itself is dark and strange: God allowing His Son to be brutally murdered. So no, we are not a people who are laughing hysterically in sheer joy every moment. This is life on faith, not illegal drugs. There are moments of deep grief and sorrow, particularly when we remember that Jesus’s brutal murder was for our sake, the payment for the sins we have done and the sins we keep doing.

But this grief is not the end of the story. Grief is never the end of the story. Jesus was sealed away in a tomb, heart still, blood cold, for three days. And then? You know what happened. An unthinkable and insane thing, a dead man resurrected, brought back to life, bearing the marks of death but smelling of heaven.

Dare I say it? The fact that God is death-defying, omniscient, omnipotent, perfect, merciful, loving, the Creator of all things, slow to anger, every other little thing I learn about Him—well, it makes me happy. The fact that God knows me, sees me, loves me, likes me? It makes me happy. These things make me actually, literally smile. 

I don’t want to seem trite and compare it to the giddiness high school Caroline experienced when she found out that a boy liked her back, but there’s a similar level of transcendent joy that happens to me when I remember the full punch of the gospel story and that it’s actually real. And I know, EW GROSS, totally not going for a “Jesus is my boyfriend” sentiment (an approach which, for the record, has always freaked me out). It’s just that when you know someone special has noticed you, you carry a smile throughout your day, the kind of smile that wells up from the inside, the kind of smile you wear without realizing it. It’s next level from found-the-perfect-wedding-dress, let’s-get-ice-cream, holding-a-brand-new-baby, the-house-is-sparkling-clean, got-an-A-on-that-hard-test, had-so-much-fun-with-my-best-friend, school’s-out-for-summer, mom’s-making-grilled-cheese kind of excitement, tucked away in our hearts forever.

It’s the happy truth that never goes away: God is actually as good as He says He is, and the story of defeating death belongs to us. The more we know we're saved and what we're saved from, the easier it is to laugh. We walk with feet firmly grounded in conviction, stepping faithfully the difficult path before us with a light heart (we have cast our cares on Him!) and a smiling mouth (He loves us!).

You guys, this is fun. May the goodness of the gospel be renewed in our hearts! Jesus, give us a laughing faith.

I’ve got more to say on this! Want in? I’ve put together a seven day study called Laughing Faith. It’s six days of scripture insights and the seventh day is a story about my husband being a slug. (YES, DON'T RE-READ THAT, I SAID SLUG. God rested on the seventh day, and I wrote about slugs. I don’t know why.) The study also features response questions and a printable of Psalm 16:11. Enjoy!

If any part of it resonates with you, DUH, I WANT TO KNOW! Sharing makes people smile, and smiling is kind of the whole point here. Post something on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter with the hashtag #laughingfaith. You can also follow me on Instagram @writercaroline to see my #laughingfaith posts! So excited to laugh with you!