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Topic: Laughter (10/18/04)
TITLE: Sarah's Laughter By darlene hight 10/20/04 |
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Myself? I became the fool, gladly. Anything, to win her smile, better yet to hear her laugh. She filled my world and my heart with the sound of her laughter.
Women often do not know the power of their beauty or their smile. Sarah? She knew nothing of such power. She was innocent and yet, her smile could change my course like the wind in a sail. Never, did she, intentionally, wield that power, in fact quite the contrary. When God told me to take my family and go to the land that He would show me, she made no objection. She was afraid. I saw that easily. Fear etched itself in her features. It reflected from her walnut brown eyes and yet she said nothing. She responded by setting herself to task, making the necessary travel plans.
She blessed each of us with her laughter as she speculated on what kind of world we would find at the end of our journey. My Sarah said that I should plan on building a very large tent because she intended to fill it to capacity with children. Sarah loved children. She longed for children and Oh how, I wanted to give her children. Nothing is emptier than arms with no child to fill them. My Sarah loved to hold the babies. She would press her face close to them and they would smile at her. Nothing could stop her laughter, when children surrounded her. It bubbled out of her as naturally water from a brook.
I asked God to, please, give us children of our own. He told me that He would make our children as numerous as the sand. Of course, I couldn’t wait to tell Sarah the news. Later, I wished that I hadn’t. As the years past and the promise delayed, the longing and the empty arms robbed my Sarah of her laughter, for a time. Those were difficult years and we made foolish mistakes. Once, we even took matters into our own hands but that is a story for another time.
I want you to know that God did in fact keep his promise. When there was no hope. Long after we had tired of waiting. When my Sarah and I were well past childbearing years, God blessed us with our son, Isaac. God gave us a child from Sarah’s womb! A child of our own and what joy he brought to our home! The name, Isaac means “laughter”, you know. Isaac did, indeed, give Sarah back her laughter. She became a radiant, as I never thought to see her again. Our home was filled with dancing. If you can call the jig that these old legs do, dancing and it was filled with laughter, the sweet essence of our youth. I, once again, became the fool, now not only to earn the laughter of my sweet Sarah but also the silly laugh of my son.
One day when Isaac was just three years old, he played long at his bath. As Sarah dried him and got him dressed. Isaac looked at his little hands, which had become wrinkled from being in water so long. He said “ Look Mother, my hands are wrinkled just like yours.” I wish you could have heard her laugh.
Oh how, she laughed! When I join my Sarah in heaven, the first thing that I want to do is thank God for Sarah’s laughter and the second thing that I want to do is to hear her laugh. There’s no sweeter music than the sound of Sarah’s laughter.