I love a good joke. Stay around me too long and you will probably hear a bad pun, a quick one liner, or some other quip. At times I have been criticized for my sense of humor, but I learned without it I might not be around. A 2005 study in the Handbook of Positive Psychology found that those who use humor to cope with stress tend to have especially healthy immune systems. It also found they are 40 percent less likely to suffer a heart attack or stroke, experience less pain during dental surgery and live four and a half years longer than average. These results shouldn’t surprise us too much. Proverbs 17:22 tells us “A joyful heart is good medicine, But a broken spirit dries up the bones.” Once again the truth of the word of God proves itself. A good laugh can be the best daily pill you can take.
I always hated buying gifts for my Mom. If I got her something like a new set of pans, it was like saying “Here’s something you can use to go make me something to eat”. A gift for her was seemingly a gift for me. There are however gifts you give that benefit you more than the receiver. For example, forgiveness. When you give it, you are giving it to yourself as much as you are giving it to them. Jesus said that when we forgive others it means God is forgiving us our wrongs (Matthew 6:14-15). I once read: “ Heaven is where everyone's forgiven. Hell is where nobody's forgiven. So, when we forgive we pull heaven down into our lives. When we withhold forgiveness, we pull hell up into our lives ” Give yourself something nice today, Forgive.

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