You’ve Just Gotta Laugh

We don’t know about you, but life has not delivered many opportunities to laugh together lately. We’ve had some tough, tough weeks and months that generally, have been anything but laughable. So, we’ve had to look for ways to laugh together because we KNOW it’s important. It’s the medicine that we need (and the Bible tells us is “good” for us).

So, we decided to make this Marriage Insight more laid back and humorous. To make things easier, we looked back into some of the things we’d written over the years and decided to pull the following out of our Archives. We needed “easier” this week. But it has been fun to read all of this again. We hope you agree as you read it.

Plus, we added a few things to that brought smiles to our faces, and we hope they do the same thing for you. We hope as you read through this Insight you enjoy yourself (hopefully, sharing this with your spouse so he/she enjoys it with you).

As Susan Goldfein says about humor and marriage (which we have found to be oh, so true):

Besides defusing uncomfortable situations, humor and laughter have the following attributes:

• Laughter bonds people.
• Laughter has been called ‘a vitamin for your marriage.’

Plus:

• Laughter can help keep a relationship fresh.
• And laughter releases oxytocin, a hormone that has been linked to empathy and increased physical closeness.

So, lighten up! Even tense situations may have a funny side if we know how to look for it. (From Susan’s article, “How to Survive a Marriage: Humor Is Cheaper than Divorce After 60”)

So, let’s look for it and share it with each other!

You Just Gotta Laugh

The Bible tells us, “Laughter is good medicine.” We’ve got to say that sure holds true in our married life together. After many, many years of marriage —the ability to laugh together has been GREAT medicine for our relationship. (We may be conservative in our values, but we try to apply humor liberally.)

One of the many things I love about Steve is his ability to make me laugh. We LOVE to laugh and continually look for things to enjoy together, which helps us to laugh A LOT.

So, to help you with that mission, as well, below are a few things that may tickle your funny bone as they have ours.

Favorite Stories that Can Cause Us to Laugh (or at least, smile):

“One of my favorite stories involves a young minister performing his first wedding ceremony. Fearing he might forget something, he sought counsel from an older preacher. The experienced man told the young minister everything he needed to do and made one final suggestion: ‘If you ever forget what you are supposed to say, just quote Scripture.’

The ceremony went smoothly until he pronounced the happy couple husband and wife. At that point, his mind went blank. That’s when he remembered the advice of the old preacher to quote Scripture. So he quoted the only verse that came to his mind: ‘Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.‘” (Dr Ray Pritchard, from his sermon titled, “Adam’s Rib: How God Arranged the First Marriage”)

Funny, yet oh so true! How many of us truly knew what we were getting ourselves into when we married? And yet for many of us, it’s different, but the best thing we could have done. Hopefully that joke at least made you smile a bit. So, here’s another one:

“Although a bright and able man, my husband is almost completely helpless when faced with even the simplest domestic chore. One day, in exasperation, I pointed out to him that our friend, Bea, had taught her husband, Frank, to cook, sew and do laundry, and that if anything ever happened to Bea, Frank would be able to care for himself. Then I asked, ‘What would YOU do if anything happened to me?’ After considering that possibility for a moment, my husband said, ‘I’d move in with Frank.’” (LaVonne Kincaid, Chicken Soup for the Romantic Soul)

Here’s another joke from jokes.christiansunite.com that we hope will make you smile.

Wedding Vow Change?

“During the wedding rehearsal, the groom approached the minister with an unusual offer. ‘I’ll give you $100 if you’ll change the wedding vows. When you get to me and the part where I’m to promise to ‘love, honor and obey’ and ‘forsaking all others, be faithful to her forever,’ I’d appreciate it if you’d just leave that part out.’ He passed the minister the cash and walked away satisfied.

“The wedding day arrives, and the bride and groom moved to that part of the ceremony where the vows are exchanged. When it comes time for the groom’s vows, the minister looks the young man in the eye and says, ‘Will you promise to obey her every command and wish, serve her breakfast in bed every morning of your life and swear eternally before God and your lovely wife that you will not ever even look at another woman, as long as you both shall live?’ The groom gulped and looked around, and said in a tiny voice, ‘Yes.’

“Later, the groom leaned toward the minister and hissed, ‘I thought we had a deal.’ The minister put the $100 into his hand and whispered back, ‘She made me a much better offer.'”

Humorous Considerations

We don’t know where some of these quips come from but thank you to whoever you are! They made us smile. See what you think:

• A man approached a beautiful woman in a large supermarket and asked, ‘You know, I’ve lost my wife here in the supermarket. Can you talk to me for a couple of minutes?’ ‘Why?’ ‘Because every time I talk to a beautiful woman my wife appears out of nowhere.’

• During an attack of laryngitis, I lost my voice completely for two days. To help me communicate with him, my husband devised a system of taps. One tap meant ‘Give me a kiss.’ Two taps meant ‘No.’ Three taps meant ‘Yes’—and 95 taps meant ‘Take out the garbage.’

Here are a couple of humorous but true statements to consider:

“Remember that creating a successful marriage is like farming: you have to start over again every morning.” (H. Jackson Brown, Jr)

“Marriage has no guarantees. If that’s what you’re looking for, go live with a car battery.” (Erma Bombeck)

And then, here’s a humorous question someone added to their wedding vows. Perhaps you wish you would have added the same question?

And do you solemnly swear to protect me from spiders as long as we both shall live? (Anonymous)

Other “Laugh” Opportunities:

And then below are a few links that might help you to keep laughing beyond reading this Marriage Insight.

First, we’re including a link to the 22 Minute Date. You may want to use your time together as husband and wife laughing together, on a “date time”:

• 22 MINUTE DATE

And then lastly, we found on You Tube with Jeanne Robertson explaining why you “Don’t Send a Man to the Grocery Store.” (You’ll notice that she calls her husband “Left Brain” —meaning that he approaches life in a more logical and analytical way.) ENJOY!!!

We also recommend you look up Jeanne Robertson on You Tube. She has a lot of other funny videos posted there.

We admit that this has been a less serious Marriage Insight, but hey! “Laughter is good medicine.” … We hope you will love each other well, laugh often, and pass joy on to others :)

Cindy and Steve Wright

— ADDITIONALLY —

To help you further, we give a lot of personal stories, humor, and more practical tips in our book, 7 ESSENTIALS to Grow Your Marriage. We hope you will pick up a copy for yourself. (It’s available both electronically and in print form.) Plus, it can make a great gift for someone else. It gives you the opportunity to help them grow their marriage. And who doesn’t need that? Just click on the linked title or the picture below:

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