Read Philippians 1:6, 21–22

For to me, living means living for Christ, and dying is even better. But if I life, I can do more fruitful work for Christ. So I really don't know which is better. (Philippians 1:21–22)

When you are my age—matter of fact, when you are any age—a sense of humour is essential. I once heard a great talk from a veteran missionary who spoke on "What I Would Pack in My Suitcase If l Were to Return to the Mission Field." The first item he named? A sense of humour. A friend of mine who once served the Lord for several years on foreign soil has a similar saying: "You need two things if you want to be happy in God's work overseas: a good sense of humour and no sense of smell!"

I have discovered that a joyful countenance has nothing to do with one's age or one's occupation (or lack of it) or one's geography or education or marital status or good looks or circumstances. Joy is a choice. It is a matter of attitude that stems from one's confidence in God-that He is at work, that He is in full control, that He is in the midst of whatever has happened, is happening, and will happen. Either we fix our minds on that and determine to laugh again, or we wail and whine our way through life, complaining that we never got a fair shake. We are the ones who consciously determine which way we shall go. To paraphrase the poet:

One ship sails east
One ship sails west
Regardless of how the winds blow.
It is the set of the sail
And not the gale
That determines the way we go.¹

Laughing one's way through life depends on nothing external. Regardless of how severely the winds of adversity may blow, we set our sails toward joy.

Perhaps this is a good place for me to identify three of these most notorious thieves at work today. All three, by the way, can be resisted by firm confidence. The first joy stealer is worry. The second is stress. And the third is fear. They may seem alike, but there is a distinct difference. How do we live with worry and stress and fear? How do we withstand these joy stealers? Go back to Paul's words in Philippians 1:6:

For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.

1. Ella Wheeler Cox, "The Wind of Fate," in The Best Loved Poems of the American People, comp. Hazel Felleman (Garden City, N.Y.: Garden City Books, 1936), 364.

An edited adaptation from Charles R. Swindoll, Laugh Again: Experience Outrageous Joy (Thomas Nelson, 1995), 33–34, 39–40.