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You're listening to the Women of Faith podcast from Faith Church Indy.  These recordings are teachings from our 2025 Fall Women's Conference on Rest and Sabbath.  Thanks for listening. One of the other titles I thought for this uh time could be She Who Laughs  Lasts,  because there's now much evidence that shows that  those who laugh live longer, are healthier,  have better relationships,  and other  benefits. I'll discuss those later, but I want to tell you about  my first uh realization of how important it was to laugh.  I'd been a teacher for, uh well,  I should go back.  I graduated with a degree in special education for, at that time they referred to them as children with  emotional disabilities.  They've been grouped as all  kinds of things. And I'm sure almost every one of us could have been one of those children. And I'd been a teacher for six years  after we moved here  and then  stayed home. to have our children,  which probably really qualified me to become emotionally disturbed. uh My experience actually in the field was in Kalamazoo,  Michigan, and I worked in a psychiatric hospital.  That was  actually a little easier than the classroom because  the girls who came uh to my program there really wanted to be able to get off the ward and come down.  But moving ahead to the public school was really different. So forward 15 years when I decided to become a substitute teacher,  our kids were at Christian school and we needed the finances.  And so I called down to IPS uh to see about becoming a sub. I had let my license expire and I didn't really ever plan on renewing it.  When  he heard I had a degree in  EH, uh they told me to come down that day for. in a point line.  I realized then  that there was a real shortage of people in that.  I didn't like to be called an emotionally  disturbed teacher, but I really was.  So my  first few years, I worked in middle school, or elementary school, inner city school, and then in middle school.  And the first few days,  I have to admit, I cry driving home every day thinking I'm not gonna last at this.  But  let me forward to a boy named Robert and my interest in humor.  Robert was a tall,  lanky boy.  would saunter down the hallway  and his only joy in life  was  his delight came from  making fun of other people.  All of his jokes were either sarcasm or scorn.  And he never had anything good to say, really.  But I'd been there for about a week.  And Robert came up to my desk and said, how long are you going to be here?  And I said, well, until the end of the year.  I'm sure.  Actually, I was doubting that. But I said, until the end of the year. And he said, well, OK, then I will learn your name. And I realized  then  that  students invest in me.   as much as I invested in them. He wasn't even going to bother to learn my name.  And his attitude didn't change  right away. But sometime after that,  well, I used to bring in snacks for the kids. I had them on a reward system.  And I had brought in some uh little snacks that had the chocolate things on the top.  And Robert was at my desk one day.  I  reached into my desk, and I pulled out this  container.  And I looked at it, and I.  I saw these little chocolate droppings  and I said, oh no,  a  mouse has gotten into my desk because I truly had forgotten about those candies.  And he looked at me and he said, Mrs. Abelard,  those are leftovers from our snack.  And he laughed so hard, his tears came down. He said to me,  oh, that is so funny. And I thought, this is the first time  that. Robert has laughed and it hasn't been at me, but it was at this situation. So many books and articles and studies tell us something we already know before, and that laughter can make us feel better about almost anything. For a teacher, well, actually I ended up then doing a unit for one of my classes on how to incorporate laughter in the classroom. But laughter can make us feel better. And  for teachers who were told never smile until Christmas,  don't believe that.  So that was when I started doing a research. And about  that same time, there was really a lot more being written about the  value of humor and healing.  a classroom, it brings joy to the teacher, but also to the students. But  a Harvard study suggested that a sense of humor is a key reason why stress doesn't kill more people  quickly and commonly.  A classroom where there is  laughter, as I said, can bring joy,  but it also helps the teacher.  I can attest to that  because working in the inner city middle school, especially with  teenage boys,  I found that um ingrained in them was not  a respect for teachers generally.  Quite often it's because their parents didn't have a positive experience in school either. And during that time, I probably was called everything you can think of to be called. And truly, humor wasn't the best answer in many situations, but sometimes it did. I remember one day, a student was so angry with me, and he said, oh, Ms. Abelerd, you're nothing but a $2 hooker. And I said, $2 is that all?  what it did was it did diffuse the system, it diffused him because he could no longer use that  as something that I would take seriously.  I also learned a lot about myself by the way.  I learned that back then I had incredible hearing.  I heard a couple of my students say,  shh, be quiet. You know, Miss Abelard, she could hear a mouse pee on a wad of cotton.  I also knew that I had incredible power.  One day I heard Stephen say to his classmates, hey,  guys,  back off, guys. She's ready to blow.  I only could think,  there she goes.  But it was usually one of these things. When I would drive home, I would think, I have to think of something. that makes me want to come back tomorrow. And usually it was those moments of humor.  The medical community has realized for many years the value of humor and then also philosophers and authors. uh I read this, I thought it was interesting. Nietzsche suggested that man suffered so excruciatingly in this world that he was uh compelled to invent humor. And I thought, no.  We learned very early on  that a merry heart does well, like medicine.  God invented humor.  Humor is one of the most eagerly  sought after commodities in the American market.  We can be lavishly entertained,  but not especially joyful.  God created laughter and he values it.  There's a humor that heals and a humor that hurts, and I think we referred to that yesterday. And I think that ah this is the idea of uh humor that maybe  that talks about the fallacies we might have in our group  or humor  saying someone to someone and saying, I was just joking.  That's the kind of humor we don't need.  And then there's off-color humor.  that made me, uh I made think of  Billy Graham. He said, that every Christian  should know  one hilariously funny joke. Memorize it if you have to,  so that when you're among a group who are telling stories  that  are not  valuable,  it's a way that you can change the mood.  And then real quickly, before my time's up, oh some of the  Mayo Clinic listed some of the benefits of humor. uh Positive thoughts actually release neuropeptides  and that might help  fight stress uh Humor can relieve pain  some hospitals have  released  Realized that  and they have carts that they fill around with humorous things on it for people uh It also improves our contact with other people and it improves your mood as far as depression. m And it allows us to deal with our own shortcomings when we can laugh at ourself.  In marriage, is very valuable.  I learned that early on. My husband and I have a lot of routines. But one of them  is,  we call it PTG, past the guilt.  If wow would  say,  hey, you left that out again. And he said, yeah, well. You forgot to put that away, so then we go, okay, one on your side, one on my side.  And also when you're with someone uh irritating,  I  have to tell you this story.  I was in the grocery store a long time ago,  and I was uh in the fish department,  and  I was behind the  guy checking prices. I think you should always stay in front of the guy marking prices,  anyway,  and I picked up a  package of tilapia, and I was really surprised at the price, and I said to him, Well, the price has really gone up on this tilapia. And he said,  I don't know, lady, I just checked it.  Grumpy, grumpy. And so then I said,  oh, are you sure you didn't just mark it that way for the halibut?  I said,  he didn't still smile.  One other time that was helpful to me  was I had to go in for one of those  breast cinderglass tests.  A mammogram  and I hadn't set  an appointment and I had to set it close to when I got out of school so I could get there on time  so I hurried over got there right at 3 30  and I said oh yeah I'm here for  the breast under glass  test  and she said well  you're late your appointment was at 3 o'clock  and you're gonna have to reschedule and I said oh man I'm so sorry  rats I said And not only that, I'd been doing all my exercises. She said, exercises? I said, well, know, breasts are usually used to just hanging around. I said, but I did one exercise. I lay my breast over on the coffee machine at work. have a 200 pound co-worker sit on it. I said, I breathe through my nose and think, mild discomfort.  So she started to laugh.  She went back and she said, there's a lady out here who's late, but she said she's been doing her exercises.  But um the truth is that,  I have to read this, I don't miss it. Joking around can bolster brain health through mental calisthenics.  I like that. It's of comparing information. And actually they did studies,  it's a complex network of neurons  where the laughter triggers certain  sections of your brain, ah especially  if they need to settle in incongruity that a joke might present. But my favorite one was  laughter blunts humbers hunger.  Too much of that rambles.  Laughter blunts humbers.  I'll get there.  It blunts hunger stimuli, and it may help control emotional eating. And I think, well, that is a lot better. And plus, The fact that I could do the calisthenics mentally, that's even better.  But I just want to finish with, for most children and actually many adults, um there is no more stressful place for children here than in the classroom.  that  incorporating the healing  power of humor, uh it improves retention  and it improves ah the willingness to try something new. And  in order to be  a teacher, to incorporate human, you don't have to be a stand-up comedian or something. ah That reminds me of my son.  When he was younger, I said, what do you want to be  when you grow up?  I was concerned about his ambition. He said he wanted to be a sit-down comedian. Sit-down?  So I just wanted to close with  one of my favorite songs. It's an old hymn, so  many of you wouldn't know it. but it's called Until Then,  and the idea is until then  I'll go on until the day that God brings me home. But one line in there that runs through my mind a lot is  the things of earth that cause my heart to tremble, remembered there,  will only bring a smile. And sometimes  I just run that through my head thinking someday  I will smile about this.  Thank you.