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Topic: Laughter (10/18/04)
TITLE: LAUGHTER IN MERRYLAND By Phyllis Inniss 10/23/04 |
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Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy;……
The Lord has done great things for us;
we are glad. (Psalm 126 vs.1-3)
Merryland is not truly a merry land. It was so once. However, over time the merry men and women became more affluent and forgot how to be kind and gracious to one another. The people make themselves merry by laughing anytime, at every one and at everything; at neighbours, at friends, at colleagues, at those who they perceive to be “better” than themselves. Ecclesiastes 3 “For everything there is a season…….a time to weep, and a time to laugh;” They didn’t realize that their children were copying their behaviour and in time became even more callous than they were.
Three witches, and the Warlock who rules them, live in this merry country. They are Mistake, Mishap and Misdeed. From time to time you can hear the boisterous and raucous laughter of the Warlock as he causes friction and enmity in the lives of his three witches. He likes to call himself Mischief.
There came to live not too far from these three cantankerous souls Hope whose life style differed from these three. Hope smiled with everyone and Mishap approached her in a friendly manner. Misdeed frowned. She was not happy to have an “outsider” in her group. Hope was always gracious and kind to these three as she was to the others in her community. However, after helping Mistake by giving her a lift a few times to the nearby grocery or market, she found that one of her purchases was missing. Before she discovered the missing item she noticed Mistake was behaving very strangely. It was only when she found the item missing that she realized why. She decided not to say anything about it, not even to the culprit.
Mistake’s guilt prompted her to start a rumour about Hope; lies followed lies. And who better to assist her in spreading these lies than her crony Misdeed. Misdeed was Warlock’s most valuable emissary. She was able to sow seeds of envy and hate with enough venom to kill a snake. She didn’t like Hope and wanted to wound her at any opportunity. There were other persons she didn’t like as well and who were not as gracious and kind in their treatment of her as Hope was. This made it a little difficult for her to execute her plans. . You see God is in control. Hope kept close to God in prayer. She knew what those three were about and that their weapon was to inflict hurt.
Mistake was always anxious when she saw any of her two witch sisters talking to Hope, more particularly Misdeed. She turned to her benefactor Mischief, the Warlock, and begged him to put any obstacle he could to prevent Misdeed, or anyone else for that matter, from conveying to Hope what she had said about her. Of course, the Warlock did nothing for nothing. He exacted payment. “What it is you want?” Mistake asked him. “By now you should know what you have to do.” Mischief answered. Mistake sighed: “O.K.” Soon after she went to Mishap and told her all the things Misdeed had spoken about her. Mishap was so mad. She accosted Misdeed, recounting the accusations. It was difficult for Misdeed to make light of her action and what was worse, Hope was within hearing distance and Mishap’s voice was raised to a pitch. Of course, Misdeed turned her wrath on Mistake.
It wasn’t long, however, when a series of mishaps took Mishap away from her colleagues and those two, Mistake and Misdeed found themselves becoming bitter enemies. This pleased Warlock so much that his uproarious laughter could be heard for miles around.
Misdeed was always seeking an opportunity to tell Hope what Mistake said about her, but on every occasion some thing would prevent her from doing so. She couldn’t understand it. You see, Hope’s faith kept her strong in the Lord and none of their evil could touch her. She walked with the armour of the Lord, her prayers: “I fear no evil, for thou art with me”
Hope wished fervently that those two would change and regularly made reference to all the blessings that God had brought into her life. Hopefully, one or both will get the message.
Phyllis Inniss
22.10.04