Laughter.  It does the body good!  Surely you have had the experience of a belly laugh that is felt throughout your body, tears streaming down your face and the euphoric feeling of a good laugh.  The world looks brighter, better and worth the living.  Laughter, it does your body some good!

Yet, seldom do we meet a child named Laughter.  Parents spend inordinate amounts of time picking the right name to help characterize their precious one.  Does a parent ever look upon their offspring and think, “Laughter!”?  Well, yes.  Meet Isaac, the promised son of Abraham and Sarah.  Upon the news, mom laughed.  Upon the news, the community must have laughed — “That old, old man (100 years old) and his barren wife are saying they are pregnant…hahahaha!”

Yet, as this long-awaited child blesses the earth with a piercing cry, laughter surrounds him, and becomes him. Read Genesis 21:1-7.  I love how she turns the laughter at her into a song of rejoicing: that people will laugh with me.  For the impossible became possible; the barrenness bore fruit; the long wait becomes a distant memory in the warmth of a snuggly baby.  They will laugh with them, for who would have thought?!

Not only is Isaac the awaited blessing, he also becomes the first baby circumcised.  He is forever marked by the covenant of circumcision given to his father and now passed on to the male child, eight days after birth.  He is born into the promise, whereas all the other men had to enter the covenant as adults.  For this reason, Isaac becomes the 2^nd patriarch of the faith!