Laughing and Crying
I did a lot of both the past few days – laughing with friends until my belly hurt and weeping over impossible choices and a very broken world.
Sometimes I think I’m so odd that I laugh until I cry and I cry until I can do nothing but laugh. But maybe it actually says that I’m on the path of life … On the journey of salvation and wholeness.
Both I have found necessary for healing. Both can bind me with others. Both can stir fear and lead others to walk away. Both connect my body to my heart, mind and soul.
But according to Richard Rohr, belly laughs and mourning hearts do something else… They submerse us in something larger. They soak us in reality. They call us to truth. They restore sight and remove chains. They make us more fully human. They bring us more fully alive. And they unlock the door to the world beyond that which we can see and allow us to sit with the One who laughs and cries with us – the One who with our help us setting this world right again.
So for my van load of peeps who had me laughing until it hurt on the way back from Arkansas; for friends and the Heifer Ranch who presented impossible choices that led to my heart weeping – thanks for keeping me real and keeping me on the path.
Good stuff. I have always loved your smile.
Dan
Glad to be a part of this! It was an amazing trip!