The Loud of Joy

The loud of joy.

I'm not sure where I first read that phrase, but I jotted it down in my journal. I liked the jumble of words, back to front, making me think about them in a new way.

I spent this past week directing A World of Music, a week-long music festival for elementary aged children. With classes in theater, sign language, silly skits and more, it was a week filled with the loud of joy.

World of Music. Photo by Zachary Hartke

On Sunday, I spent the day with my grandson, age 10 months. Unless he is hungry or tired (he does NOT like naps), he is a happy little guy, learning new things everyday and filled with the loud of joy.

My Grandson at 7 months. Photo by Katelyn Hartke

Children understand the loud of joy.

In fact, if we bring joy down to its most basic component - smiling - we discover that children smile more than adults. When I did a google search, I found that everyone quoted the same study - children smile 400 times a day, while adults smile only 14-20 times. (Although everyone quoted this study, I could not find the original source. Sorry.) 20 versus 400. That's quite a difference. What happens to us as adults, that our smile beamage is reduced to 5% of what it was when we were younger? Are our lives really that responsible and serious?

World of Music. Photo by Zachary Hartke

At A World of Music, I taught the Silly Skit class. One exercise we did to help us with laughter was to tell simple jokes:

What do you call a penguin in the desert?

Lost.

What is a pirate's favorite pizza?

Pep-arrrr-oni.

After the joke, I instructed the children to laugh. At first, the laughter was forced, but soon we found ourselves laughing at each other's laughter. It happened every time.

According to the magazine, Intelligent Life, only 11% of laughter is from joke telling, 17% from media (silly cat videos, YouTube, etc) and an amazing 72% is a result of social interaction.

Which gives us a big hint about where we can discover our smiles, our laughter, and the loud of joy.

So here is your assignment (and mine) for the rest of the week. What makes you smile? Can you do better than 20 a day? What makes you laugh? Where will you discover the loud of joy?

I would love to hear about it.

A cheerful heart is good medicine. - Proverbs 17:22