He loves me when no one else does....

Good morning and happy Friday, it is a glorious morning here in Utah...66 degrees, the sun is shining, the sunrise was amazing, and the birds are serenading us with the sweetest of songs. As I sat this morning with my coffee in hand marveling over the handiwork of God I felt such an overwhelming sense of love and approval. I have been asking Him for weeks now...what have I done so wrong? Where have I gone wrong??? Why is karma biting me like a rabid dog??? Why won't you make it stop??? Why won't you help us??? YES these have been my questions when in reality I am being very vain...it is not all about me, me, me...I am not being picked on by GOD, he does not pick on people, he is a just and loving God, he loves me when no one else does, he hears me when I have worn out the ears of the ones around me, He tends my heart when it feels like it will never be put back together, when I lay down at night He is the one who hears all of the noise in my brain. He is not picking on me, he is standing right by, allowing me to grow, to make decisions and to see just how strong I really am, he is allowing me to see how strong I really am, he already knows...I am picking my depressed self up, dusting my depressed bum off and am going to quit taking "life" as a personal attack to me....life is life, I will learn to tolerate it, learn to live it and learn to get through the hard stuff because I know the good stuff is just up the road. I will not allow negative to bring me down and I will trust that in the last and final deadlines that God will provide a way for us to make it. I will pray for "just enough" and I will stand on my faith believing that it will be provided. I love you all and am so thankful that you are in my life.

This day I lift each of you in prayer asking God to see your struggles and to provide a way for you to get through them, I lift you in prayer asking God to take the me, me, me out of the equation and to add the "who" can I be of service to today, I lift you in prayer asking God to give you comfort in your body, calm in your heart and peace in your minds. May this day be a sign of hope for each and every one of you...hope that there is a better day coming, that the storm will not last forever and that by reaching out to the lighthouse you will make your way to the shore. God bless us all each and every one, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. 

This is a long story but so worth reading....after I finished I found myself smiling and I could not wait to laugh....and I did just that and it felt good!!!!

She was just entering the building, waving a cheerful goodbye to someone from under her bright orange umbrella.

- Ah, I made it just in time it seems! she smiled and walked in, leaning to her cane.

I had her lunch in my trolley and waited

for her to open the door.

- There you go, she said and opened the door, - You may put the food on the kitchen table. I´ll warm it up in the microwave shortly.

I took her meal and carried it indoors. The route to her small kitchen took me through her living room. As before, I couldn´t help glancing at the pictures on her living room walls.

Other people living in this old people´s home had traditional landscape paintings or religious pictures on their walls. But not Mrs Rosewood. Her walls were filled with pictures of comedians. The Marx Brothers, Laurel and Hardy, Jim Carrey, Leslie Nielsen, Steve Martin, Goldie Hawn.

- You are looking at my picture, I see, Mrs Rosewood´s cheerful voice came from behind my shoulder.

- Well, yes... Can I ask you why you have them there?

- Isn´t it obvious? I like to laugh! Look here!

The old lady opened the cupboard next to her television. I saw films, dozens of them. All comedies. No Casablanca, Gone With the Wind or any such old film. Only comedies.

- Now that is a bit unexpected, I said, - It´s a hobby of yours? Comedies, I mean.

- Not a hobby but a way of life, young man! she smiled.

I did not know what to say. She turned to push the window open and laughed. Again I head her laughter in the rain.

- I had very serious parents, she said, - Very religious. I was taught ever since I was a child that life was dire business and useless laughter took you nowhere. Nowhere good that is. Unfortunate for them I did no believe, she laughed.

- When I was a teenager I became acquainted with a neighbor of ours. She used to be a nun.

- Used to? This sounds interesting.

- Yes, a bit like Maria in Sound of Music, Mrs Rosewood smiled, - I asked why she was nun no more and she said it was too gloomy.

I talked with her and she knew what my parents thought about laughter and being happy. And one day she started talking about laughter.

"Mary, tell me how do you feel when you laugh."

I told her I felt happy.

"How do you feel when you know you are totally loved. Totally."

I wondered how could she know I was up to my ears in love with someone. But I answered her that I felt happy.

"And have you heard someone say God is total love?"

Well that was easy. I had sure heard it many times.

"Well tell me then - if someone is total love, totally made of love, how would he feel? Happy, of course. What do happy people do? They laugh. So if God is total love, you might expect God laughs a lot. Why then would laughter be bad?"

Now here was a question I had not thought about before.

"And tell me, Mary, why would it not work the other way around too?"

Mrs Rosewood turned into her kitchen and left me standing there. I waited for a short while and then had to ask.

- What did she mean by that?

Again I heard her laughter. In the rain, a blackbird was singing beautifully.

- I thought you´d never ask! she appeared back into the living room, - So I´ll tell you what she said.

"Dwelling in negative thinking and complaining about things are just ways to tell you don´t trust life can be good. In other words you are stating your distrust to your creator.

So think about it in such a way that you may search for happiness and laughter purposefully. It gets you closer to God, who is laughter, joy and happiness."

Now she used the word God, but if you are happier with some other term, no problem. She meant the creating force of the universe, Mrs Rosewood said, - Have to be careful with other people´s faith...

- Oh it is quite allright, I said, - God is good.

- Yes indeed, she smiled, - But that is when I started to find laughter on purpose. My parents did not approve and told me so. I was stubborn enough to continue. I bought funny books. I went to see funny movies. I wrote down the best jokes I found. And this week... Oh this is so much fun... I found out there is such a thing as laughter yoga! I´m going to try it next week!

- Yoga at your age... I started.

- Oh it is just laughter. Laughing on purpose, no one needs to bend themselves into a knot, Mrs Rosewood laughed, - And time has taught me I took the right road! I met my husband at a movie theater when I went to see a Goldie Hawn movie! Not to mention other friends I met through laughter.

She bent towards me.

- You see I am following the advice of the neigbor... I inherited that cross stitch picture from her.

I looked at the picture above her TV.

"The Purpose of Life is Joy" it said.

- She gave it to me shortly before it was her time to go to her maker and said: "Look at this and remember it. Always try to be the sound of laughter in the rain. Life is so hard to so many people it is like an eternally continuing rainy day. They are not happy. So you be happy, show them the way. Be the laughter in the rain for them. Be as happy as you can - only then you can spread happiness to others."

Even though twenty years have passed since that rainy day, I´ll always remember Mrs Mary Rosewood. We became good friends and she often invited me to watch funny movies with her. I met many of her friends and we spent many a laughter-filled evening together. There was a lot of laughter in the rain and in the sunshine.

When Mrs Rosewood died, she donated all her money to a local theater with the instruction the money was to be used to produce one comedy play per year. Guess what the first play was called? Laughter In The Rain.

To me she gave all her funny movies and pictures of her "funny people". I still have them hanging on my study walls - all faded with time of course, but just as valuable as ever. Their smiles haven´t faded at all.

And when I look at the cross stitch message "The Purpose of Life Is Joy" I always remember the first time I heard her laughter in the rain. And to honor her life´s work of bringing joy to the people around her, I try to be the sound of laughter in the rain to others as well.