Does God Snort When He Laughs?

Have you ever had one of those days? You know the type. You start by rolling out of the wrong side of the bed, step on the cats tail, and get long claw marks down your heel. Then you spill milk on yourself at breakfast, get to work late, nearly yell at someone just because they glanced at your milk stain, and you can't find any parking spot at the grocery store that is less than a mile walk from the door. Then, all of the sudden, the front-row spot opens up. You find a clean shirt you forgot in the back seat, along with an extra twenty you can spend on a few goodies. The bad day turned into the best day.

Yeah, one of those days. But have you ever had one of those weeks? One of those months? Take that day, the one where everything went wrong with such perfect timing you know something supernatural had to have coordinated it, and multiply it by seven, or thirty.

Yeah, it's been one of those months. Everything has gone up and down with such precise timing I can't help but wonder if God was up there pressing cosmic buttons that influence the stuff that happens to me. And as he sits back and watches the chaos get sticky, and then suddenly resolve itself at the last minute, I wonder. Is he holding his sides, laughing? Does he snort when he laughs?

I'm not trying to say God is playing mean and nasty tricks to thwart our every move like some sort of mischievous sprite in a fairy story. No, I think he's trying to teach me a lesson, and he's doing it with a good dose of humor.

Because every prayer I've prayed this last month hasn't been answered, not the way I asked. But the need has been met. Everything that went wrong and drove me up the wall suddenly resolved itself exactly the way I didn't think it would.

I can't help but sit back at the end of it all, reviewing the ups and downs, and giggle a bit. And I think God is sitting there with me, patting me on the back, saying, "Yeah, it's kind of funny, isn't i? But I told you I'd take care of you. I told you not to worry. Those gray hairs, those worry lines, they're your fault. I had it all sorted out."

Bad plumbing, a truck that won't sell, a floor that is slowly sagging, an air conditioner that works when it's sixty degrees but decides to break when it hits ninety. Yeah, it's been one of those months. But as soon as the bank account looked like it would dip below zero after all the repairs, the truck sold and an unexpected check arrived, too. Fixing the bathroom is now affordable. So why can't the solution arrive just one week earlier, before the problems start?

Because then we wouldn't appreciate the euphoria of the after-the-disaster laughter. Because if the check came last week and the truck sold before the plumbing sprang a leak, I'd never have to learn to trust. If I didn't have to sit back biting my nails, waiting to see if checks cleared, I would think that I could solve all of this myself. The reality is that I am completely dependent on God for all of it. He gives and he takes, and he has cosmic, comic timing.

So if you're worrying about something, God might just be laughing. He's laughing in anticipation of the look on your face when he drops the unexpected solution in your lap tomorrow or next week. Because God loves to bless his children.

Thank you, Lord, for taking care of me and teaching me to trust in you. And thanks for the laugh. :)