It had been raining for three days. There were buckets in the passage, a basin on the dresser and a towel stuffed under the back door. The children had named each drip. The loudest, over the bathroom, was “Uncle Desmond”, because it never stopped talking. When the roof finally gave a particularly dramatic splash onto the kitchen floor, the whole family, soaked and exasperated, burst out laughing.
Nothing about the roof had improved. The repair would still cost money they did not quite have. But something in the house had shifted. For a moment, the leak was no longer in charge.
The God who laughs
Psalm 2 describes nations raging and rulers plotting against the Lord. And then, unexpectedly: “He who sits in the heavens shall laugh” (Psalm 2:4, NKJV). It is not the laughter of cruelty, and it is not indifference. It is the settled confidence of Someone who knows how the story ends. Psalm 37 says something similar about the wicked: “The Lord laughs at him, for He sees that his day is coming” (Psalm 37:13).
We are not God, and we do not see the end as He does. But we are invited to trust the One who does, and trust has a way of loosening the chest.
Laughing at the days to come
Proverbs 31 paints a picture of a capable woman managing a busy household. She buys a field, plants a vineyard, keeps the lamp burning late, clothes her family for the cold. It is a portrait of hard, practical work. And in the middle of it is this line:
“She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come.” (Proverbs 31:25, NIV)
Notice the order. She prepares, and then she laughs. Her joy is not the carelessness of someone who has ignored the hurricane forecast. It is the freedom of someone who has done what she can and left the rest with God. She has put by what she can, mended what she can, and she refuses to let fear run the house.
That balance is worth aiming for in our own homes. Fix the roof when you are able. Put the money aside. Read the insurance policy. And then, having done your part, let the children hear you laugh.
Why a laughing home matters
“A merry heart does good, like medicine, but a broken spirit dries the bones” (Proverbs 17:22, NKJV). Children notice the weather inside a house far more than the weather outside. They know when every conversation about money turns sharp, when the adults stop singing while they cook, when the television is on only to fill a silence. They also remember the evenings of dominoes by candlelight during a power cut, and the day everyone laughed at the leaking roof.
Laughter will not pay the bills. But it can keep a family on the same side while they work out how to pay them. It turns “your fault” into “our problem”. It reminds a tired husband and wife that they actually like each other.
When laughter is hard to find
There are seasons when laughter feels impossible or even wrong: after a death, during serious illness, when a job is lost or a house is damaged beyond easy repair. Scripture makes room for those seasons too. There is “a time to weep, and a time to laugh” (Ecclesiastes 3:4). If your home is in a weeping time, you do not need to force a smile. God’s joy is not a performance.
But even in heavy seasons, small moments of lightness can be gifts rather than betrayals. A funny memory of the one who has died. A child’s joke. A neighbour’s terrible singing at the gate. Receive them. They are often God’s way of reminding a grieving household that the story is not over.
Small ways to let joy back in
- Keep one evening a week free of money talk.
- Tell the family stories that make everyone laugh, especially the ones about disasters survived.
- Put music back in the kitchen.
- When you pray about a problem, end by thanking God for one thing that is going well.
For reflection
- What is the “weather” inside your home at the moment?
- Having done what you can about a present worry, what would it look like to leave the rest with God?
Lord, You sit in the heavens and You are not anxious. Teach our household to prepare wisely and then to rest in You. Where fear has taken over our conversations, bring back laughter. Clothe us with strength and dignity, and let us laugh at the days to come. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
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