In college, a literature professor said that laughter opens the mouth to receive truth. There is something about a good laugh that can bring down walls and clear the fog. Not all laughter is the same, or even good. But the best of laughs work powerfully. That release of breath in a million happy ripples has taken down prideful crevices in my heart seamlessly. Like the smooth cut of a knife, laughter has dislodged thoughts of self-sufficiency and perfection.  A Bible study leader once said that often we act like a worm inside a jar full of hundreds of other worms. This worm has made it to the top of…

We own a bunny colored like an Oreo. He hops around a pink cage, finishes our broccoli stems, and receives fresh water every hour (on hot days with ice) because he has five admirers that adore every fuzzy facet of him. Perhaps that’s why we started listening as a family to The Green Ember, an adventure story about bunnies with swords. In the very beginning, one young rabbit called Picket encounters danger. In the face of it, to his humiliation, he faints. After the matter, he talks to his father about what happened and the wise, older bunny comforts him with kind, sympathetic words. He says that this fainting is…