This is the text of the cassette tape Marcy Myers gave to me, Mitch Fincher, in February of 2026. Lynette Fincher Myers' session with the Presbyterian Women in Denton TX at St Andrew's church Feb 2, 1995 Text of speech in first comment. -------------------------------------------------- Here is the label on the tape: Program for PW in Denton at St Andrew 2/26/95 Program for PW at Good Shepherd, Garland 2/25/95 By Lynette Myers -------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------- Summary by Gemini AI: "This sermon is a warm, anecdotal reflection on the vital role of joy and laughter within the Christian faith. Using her own experiences with aging, a bout with cancer, and a "dear departed" ex-husband, the speaker argues that humor isn't just a luxury—it’s a spiritual necessity and a medicinal gift from God." Outline by Gemini AI: Key Themes The "Laughter Folder": The speaker encourages keeping a physical collection of funny stories and clippings to navigate "gray days" and the "gloomies." Aging with Grace (and Giggles): She reframes the challenges of getting older—like liver spots and memory lapses—as opportunities to laugh at oneself rather than sink into bitterness. Holy Mirth: She highlights that "long faces" don't belong in the church, noting that God has a sense of humor (citing Jonah) and that laughter is a form of resilience against despair. Joy vs. Happiness: She distinguishes between fleeting happiness (dependent on circumstances) and a deep, God-given joy that remains even through pain and "the gravel in your shoe." -------------------------------------------------- Actual Transcription of Lynette's address: Thank you for the kind words and the invitation to be with you this morning. We're going to laugh this morning, and it doesn't matter whether you laugh in the right places or not; I'm not offended in any event. But as we go along this faith journey—all of us together, different ages, different colors of hair and all of that—I gave up a good while ago on buying anything new unless it matched gray hair and liver spots. More recently, I have started putting on my makeup in a very dim light with a small mirror, and I feel much better about myself when I do that. I was talking with some friends recently about age, and I said, "Well, I'll be 70 in April." And then I stopped, and I was shocked. I didn't know I was going to be 70 and 80; I hadn't even said it out loud before. So as I go along, please keep in mind that if I do repeat myself, I will be 70 and 80. I want to tell you this morning a few things that have happened along the way and some things that I have gathered. If you don't have one, you should get a little folder to keep funny things in—things you find in the newspaper, in the Reader's Digest, or just funny things your children or grandchildren say. Clip these out and make a memory folder. Then, on gray days or glum days, or if you have a case of the "gloomies," go back into there and go through them again. I have one that I have had for years, and I found a quote in *Parade* magazine years ago from Lillian Carter. She said, "Sometimes when I look at all my children, I say to myself, 'Lillian, you should have stayed a virgin.'" You can see the clipping is yellowed with age now. I think that probably there are aspects of our life where we have not felt very joyful, but one of the most marvelous things about being a Christian is that we can be joyful because we know how it all comes out in the end. One of my favorite stories is from a book that Catherine Marshall wrote for children. It was about a little girl and her grandfather riding on a sunny afternoon out in the country. They looked out and saw a mule in the field, and the little girl said, "Grandpa, is that mule a Christian?" He said, "Well, honey, I don't know. Why do you ask?" "Well," she said, "he must be a Christian. He has such a long face." So, let’s dispense with the long faces. In 1992, my daughter Marcy, her daughter, and I were going to Kentucky. We had spent the night in Little Rock with my nephew. The next morning we stopped to get gas, and Marcy went in to pay for it. She came back out laughing so hard and said, "Get a pencil and write this down." When she went to pay, there were two women talking in the station. One of them was saying to the other, "I am sick and tired of you ragging me about Bill Clinton. I heard on the radio just yesterday that he had done more in his first 100 days than any president since George Roosevelt." Those are the things that make our life complete—the little bits of fun that often aren't contrived at all, but are just true statements. I also preached in Henderson in November, and everything went wonderfully well. I was feeling really good because my daughter and son-in-law are members of that church, and I felt that I had not disgraced them in any way. I was standing there ready to lead the Lord's Prayer with my head bowed. And I stood there, and I stood there, and I stood there. Finally, it came to me that the Lord's Prayer starts with "Our Father, who art in heaven." I was so embarrassed. Afterward, the lady who was the lay reader told me, before I had a chance to tell her what I had done, "That was so effective!" So you see, you don't ever know. I told them when they asked me back that they will never say the Lord's Prayer again without having a little tug of a smile on their face. In 1973, I lost 175 pounds: I divorced my husband. I have always said he's my "dear departed." He's not dead; he just departed. It is true that opposites attract: he loved to chase women, and I didn't. But anyway, he lives in the same town, we share the same children, and life is wonderful. My life has been wonderfully good, and it has given me the opportunity to be with people like you and to have the freedom to be with you. There are times when divorce is not bad. I've already told you to stick little notes to yourself in your memory box and your laughter folder. You might want to put down the day the lilacs bloom, the day you see the first robin, or when that very first little bluebird comes to the house you’ve made—the joys that you find in nature. I mentioned at the table that I had cancer six years ago. I have always loved things and been conscious of blooming flowers and shrubs, but when you go through something like that, it gives you a more acute time to notice things. The colors are brighter, the breeze is fresher, and the flowers smell sweeter. A lot of that comes from how you cope with day-to-day things. You know, it's not the boulders in the road that upset you; it's that little piece of gravel in your shoe that wears away at you until your outlook is diminished. As we laugh together this morning, I hope you will think of some of the things you've experienced. Maybe you've never told them to anyone. They say that one good laugh is worth three tablespoons of oat bran—and it is! Another little thought is that if you eat a live toad in the morning, nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day. And since we've already eaten, we’re cautioned to eat dessert first because life is uncertain. We have times of replenishment, joy, and laughter. You don't stop laughing because you grow old; you grow old because you stop laughing. If you laugh as you grow older, all your wrinkles will be in the right places, and that's good to know. I'd like to read you this; it reminds me of myself and especially of my brother: "Lord, thou knowest me better than I know myself, that I'm growing older and will someday be old. Keep me from getting talkative and particularly from the fatal habit of thinking I must say something on every subject at every occasion. Release me from craving to try and to straighten out everybody's affairs. Keep my mind free from the recital of endless details and give me wings to get to the point. I ask for grace enough to listen to the tales of others. Help me to endure them with patience, but seal my lips on my own aches and pains. They are increasing, and my love of rehearsing them is increasing as the years go by. Teach me the glorious lesson that occasionally it is possible that I might be mistaken. Keep me reasonably sweet. I don't want to be a saint—some of them are so hard to live with—but a sour old woman or man is one of the crowning works of the devil. Make me thoughtful, but not moody; helpful, but not bossy. With my vast store of wisdom, it seems a pity not to use it all, but thou knowest, Lord, that I want a few friends at the end." Having a few friends at the end is a wonderful thing. If we’ve spent time nurturing those friendships, we can find great joy. Work for the Lord; the pay isn't much, but the retirement plan is out of this world. I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from His love. Death can't and life can't, the angels won't, and all the powers of hell itself cannot keep God's love away. Our fears for today, our worries about tomorrow, or where we are—high above the sky or in the deepest ocean—nothing will ever be able to separate us from the love of God demonstrated by our Lord Jesus Christ when He died for us. In that, we find our joy. Humor has been noted by doctors as being extremely medicinal. We also know it's biblical because laughter "doeth good like a medicine." It releases endorphins that are for our great good. Laughter is very important, and any day spent without a really good laugh is a wasted day. Several years ago, we were going to a gathering in Tulsa. I had made arrangements to pick up my friend Carol in Athens, which is about 30 miles from Palestine. I got up at 4:30 AM, got my things together, and picked up Carol. We were going down Highway 19 and stopped in Paris, Texas, for breakfast. We went into the restaurant, and a nice, attentive woman came around, looked at me, and said, "Honey, your slip shows." She was patting my dress and tugging on it. I thanked her and went to the restroom to tend to it. I looked in the mirror, and sure enough, my slip did show. Then I looked again and realized I had my dress on backward. I am not a morning person! The best laughs we get are at ourselves when we have done something outlandish or unbelievably stupid. Laugh at yourself first before somebody else gets a chance to. We don't laugh at people; we laugh with people, and that makes such a difference in how we feel. What makes you laugh? If you think about Job, he had all the trials in the world, and yet Job laughed. If you think about God's sense of humor, all we have to do is look around to see it. Read Jonah; Jonah is fun to read because he is just like we are. God tells us what to do, but we're off on our own agenda. God says, "Jonah, you're going to Nineveh to preach," and Jonah says, "No way." Jonah goes and buys a ticket for somewhere else, but God persists. Jonah has his encounter with the whale, gets spewed out, and finally goes to Nineveh. He preaches, and all the people repent. This made Jonah furious! He knew that if he went there, God would love those people enough to forgive them. Jonah sat on the side of the hill, sulking and angry because God had forgiven them. That is very "Christian," isn't it? But we see humor in Scripture. God has given us a sense of humor, but it’s something you have to cultivate, like a garden. You have to be able to see humor in situations; otherwise, how do we keep our sanity? Here is another little item: brain cells come and brain cells go, but fat cells live forever. My sister and I grew up in Fort Griffin, Texas, on the Clear Fork of the Brazos River. It was a very close community, and we had neighbors named the Coxes. Lottie was older than I was, and I always loved her. She was a buxom lady with a face as big as the moon and a heart as big as Texas. She outlived three husbands who all died of natural causes, and she recently died in her 90s. Lottie used to say, "I may be dumb, but when I know something, I know it just as good as a smart person." She was a very special lady. God doesn't hear enough laughter from us. We're made in His image, bought by the blood of His son, and saved by His grace. So, let laughter flow over you like living water. Do you know someone with an infectious laugh? Someone whose laugh automatically lifts your heart? We took a trip with the garden club last year, and the man who drove the bus was a marvelous, huge man. When he laughed, it started at the gas pedal, went right up through his body, and came forth in a glorious sound. He got a big kick out of being with all these "crazy women" on the bus. I often wonder if he knows how much people appreciated his good humor and his ability to make you feel that this is a glorious day that the Lord has made. Laughter is a gift. Don't put it away in a drawer like a robe you only bring out for the hospital, or like fine china you only use for special occasions. Use the gift of joyousness; relish it and revel in it, because it is from God to you, His special child. Laughter is not an acquired taste; it's a basic necessity. Life, love, and laughter are poured upon you in abundance. Pain has a place in the Christian journey because that's how we learn and grow, but often it's through our laughter that we are able to stand our pain. There was a cartoon where a doctor in the emergency room was on the phone saying, "Miss Smith, your son has been in an accident. He's going to be just fine, but I would like to speak to you about his underwear." Oh, you've heard that one, haven't you? But truly, Jesus is no longer in the tomb. As we celebrate this season, we realize we have been freed to joy. We are empowered by the Spirit and able to laugh at ourselves because we are secure in the love of God. We belong to His kingdom. I'd like to read you this piece written by an 85-year-old man: "If I had my life to live over, I'd try to make more mistakes next time. I wouldn't be so perfect. I would relax more. I'd limber up, and I'd be sillier than I've been on this trip. I'd take more chances, more trips, and climb more mountains. I’d eat more ice cream and fewer beans. I’d have more actual troubles and fewer imaginary ones. You see, I was one of those people who lived prophylactically and sanely, hour after hour. If I had it to do over again, I'd travel lighter. I'd start barefoot earlier in the spring and stay that way later in the fall. I’d ride more merry-go-rounds and play more with children. But you see, I don't." We need to make the days of our lives special. My ex-husband used to tell me that I did the things I wanted to do before the things I "should," and he was right. If you only do what you "should," you don't have time left to play with the kids or make cookies. I loved my children—I had four—and we had the best times together. I hope your memories have more joyful times than difficult ones. Sometimes we have our fists so clenched that God can't hand us the tools He wants us to use. If we open ourselves to Him, He restores us with joy. A little book by Richard Bimler says, "Angels can fly because they take themselves lightly." He says that life is too serious to be taken seriously. Laughter is the shortest distance between two people and is God’s hand on the shoulder of a troubled world. Holy laughter is the human spirit's last defense against sin and despair. It is a brilliant affirmation that death is not the final answer. In Jeremiah 31, it says, "They will come and shout for joy... they will be like a well-watered garden, and they will sorrow no more. Then maidens will dance and be glad, young men and old as well. I will turn their mourning into gladness." This is a promise from the Old Testament fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Why wouldn't we be joyful? Why wouldn't we want to share this laughter? The world is full of grief, but there is also joy. I'm not talking about "happiness," which depends on circumstances; I'm talking about joy given by God that is so deep it cannot be snatched from us. So when you see each other, put a big smile on your face. When you look in the mirror in the morning and the shock has passed, let the last bit of "makeup" you put on be a smile. That face is the one everyone else sees all day, and it is the reflection of your soul. If I could give you one bit of advice: if you only have one garment in the luggage of your life, let it be a loose, glowing robe of laughter. Thank you very much.