And Sarah said, “God has made me laugh, and all who hear will laugh with me” (Genesis 21:6 NKJV)

There are few things as contagious as the laughter of a toddler. The sheer innocence and often unexpectedness takes hold of everyone within hearing distance. When our first grandson was still a baby, we would put him in the bathtub and my husband would flip the drain spout up and down while saying “up, down.” And our grandson would belly roll laugh as though it were the funniest thing in the world. Who among us hasn’t engaged in the silliest of behaviors because it made a baby laugh? 

To be clear, there are different forms of laughter and some of it is cruel, brought on at the expense of others. Perhaps Sarah’s laughter when she first heard God’s promise falls into the laughter of mockery.

But I’m also convinced that laughter is the sound of hope. I’ve heard that sound and experienced that hope.

Let me explain.

Few days in our collective memories carry the trauma of September 11, 2001. Though I was far removed from the places where the attacks took place, the minutest of details about that day remain crystal clear to me. 

Numb with shock

My children, twins just shy of their third birthday later that year, pulled me from the despair that swept over me that day as the news kept pouring in with horrific and heart wrenching stories. But for the sake of my little ones, I couldn’t allow myself to sit around in sorrow, and certainly not in fear. So, I did what we did nearly every day. I took the kids out for an “explore.”

We lived on several acres, so we went out on “explores” often. Examining leaves, watching birds, soaking up the sunshine, and just enjoying God’s gift of the beauty to be found in the world around us.

Numb with shock, I’ll admit that I wasn’t as present in the moment with them as I usually was. My heart was breaking, and the future seemed like a frightening uncertainty. But my children didn’t know today was any different than the day before or the day that would follow.

And then I heard the sound. I’d fallen behind while they ran ahead through an open pasture. And they were laughing. In that moment it was the sweetest sound I’ve ever heard. Maybe it still is. I don’t know what they were laughing about, but it was full of innocence and joy. 

And hope.

And it was a gift from God. 

The Kingdom of Heaven

Like Sarah in Genesis 17 who was beyond the age of being able to bear children, my heart felt dead to hope that day. But in the same way that God took what was dead and birthed Isaac, He birthed hope through laughter. In Sarah’s case it was a son whose name means laughter—Isaac. And in my case, it was through the sweet sound of children who didn’t know the world was trying to fall apart around them.

But Jesus said, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for such is the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 19:14 NKJV).

For such is the kingdom of heaven. I’ve never forgotten the sound or the lesson I learned that day.

In my spirit, I felt the gentle nudge of God affirming the truth that in the children there is always hope. And so we wouldn’t miss it, He gave them the gift of laughter that is spontaneous, pure, and filled with delight.

As we get older, we seem to lose this gift. We forget what it is like to laugh for the pure joy of the moment. We let the world and all its cares weigh us down until it feels somehow wrong to laugh in the middle of such a broken world.

Could it be that when our hope grows weary, we need laughter to remind us of our glorious inheritance—the very reason to be hopeful and filled with the joy of the Lord?

Like Sarah, I know I’ve been given a gift to be treasured. The gift of laughter—the sound of hope.

As we enter into the season of celebration of the birth of Christ, let us remember the sweetest gift of laughter, knowing our hope is secure.

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