The Laughter Plan Sample

Who Are You Calling Old?

Want to feel young again? There is another way besides checking out the cosmetic aisle of your local department store or trying to catch the order information of all those infomercials with their endless promises of youth, vitality, and magically-erased under-eye circles. 

All you need to do is turn to the Old Testament. When you compare your own forest of birthday candles to Methuselah’s 969, or Noah’s 950, or even Adam’s 930, you might not feel so bad. And although Abraham and Sarah ended up making history for having a baby at ages 90 and 100 respectively, the Bible says Sarah laughed when she first heard she was going to have a child after all her years of waiting (Genesis 21:6).

Granted, none of us are going to live to see our nine hundredth birthday these days, and we’re probably not going to have a baby when we’re ninety. But more and more people are making it well past one hundred. Recently, I read about one lady who died at the tender, young age of 117! (I checked my pulse, and that lady wasn’t me, so I went ahead and got out of bed.) 

What did this woman say was her secret for living such a long life? She said she has eaten three eggs every day for ninety years. Did you notice a treadmill wasn’t even mentioned? Nor was a salad bar. I’m just saying…

We can learn a lot from these collectors of birthdays. Many who have made it over the one-hundred-year mark say their longevity is due to a healthy sense of humor, and I believe it. Laughter could be the elusive Fountain of Youth.  After all, just look at the ages of these comedians at the time of their deaths:

• Bob Hope (100)


• George Burns (100)


• Phyllis Diller (95)


• Milton Berle (93)


• Don Rickles (90)


• Jonathan Winters (87)


• Joan Rivers (81)


• Danny Thomas (79)


• Lucille Ball (77)

 Maybe they knew something important that the rest of us could learn: A healthy diet, exercise, and regular medical check-ups are all good, but if you want to last, you’ve gotta laugh. 

 When an extra candle gets added to your birthday cake this year, don’t dread it. Celebrate it! And promise yourself no matter what, you’re not going to miss out on a single laugh.  (Psalm 126:2)