Pleasure

A New York Times interview with Yale “happiness professor” Lauri Santos, exemplifies the ways in which the happiness studies movement lets us down. Santos’s research focuses on cognition and cognitive development in dogs and monkeys. But she has been teaching a popular course on human happiness since 2018, and producing podcasts about happiness with millions of downloads.

At the end of the interview, the Times asks, “So what’s the answer? What’s the purpose of life?” Santos answers: “It’s smelling your coffee in the morning. [Laughs.] Loving your kids. Having sex and daisies and springtime. It’s all the good things in life. That’s what it is.” In other words, she doesn’t know.

Here's an additional comment from the article: “Santos says some good and important things. But when she reaches her positive prescriptions, we find we can gain equally useful insights from greeting cards and embroidered samplers—in fact, better. At least the platitude “When life hands you lemons, make lemonade” responds to the problem of suffering. “Have all the good things” doesn’t. What is the secret to enjoying the good things? What shall we say to the people who have them all, but find they aren’t enough? Between 1999 and 2019, suicide rates increased by 33 percent—and that was before the pandemic. I suspect that a lot of the people comprehended by that statistic smelled coffee, liked sex and daisies and springtime, and at least tried to love their kids.”

Possible Preaching Angle:

It turns out the true happiness is not found in circumstances but in our relationship with our Creator. Only He promises “fullness of joy” (Ps. 16:11; Isa. 55:11).

Researcher Arthur C. Books told the following story about how we all can benefit from self-control and waiting.

My father-in-law, with whom I was very close, spent most of his life on the same working-class street in Barcelona’s El Clot neighborhood. Born in 1929, he saw Spain’s bloody civil war taking place literally in front of his house. His family experienced a lot of suffering. Some died; others spent years in jail or were forced into exile. He himself spent a year in a refugee camp, an experience that affected him for the rest of his life. Every time he wanted to make a point about society or culture, he always started with: “Well, during the civil war …”

One evening, a few months before he died, he read in his local paper an article of mine about unhappiness. “You have a lot of complicated theories,” he told me, “But the real reason people are unhappy is very simple.” I asked him to elaborate. “They don’t enjoy their dinner,” he responded. I asked him what he meant. “Well, during the civil war, we were always hungry,” he said. “But one day a year—Christmas—we got to eat whatever we wanted, and we were so happy. Today, people snack all day long, are never hungry, don’t enjoy their dinners, and aren’t happy—even on Christmas.”

He was not wrong in his main contention: Happiness rises, paradoxically, when you do not get whatever you want, whenever you want it. Rather, well-being requires that you discipline your will and defer your gratifications. Understanding this and taking action to change your habits can make you a much happier person.

Since 2002, the World Happiness Report has used statistical analysis to determine the world’s happiest countries. In its 2024 update, the report concluded that Finland is the happiest country in the world.

To determine the world’s happiest country, researchers analyzed comprehensive Gallup polling data from 143 countries for the past three years, specifically monitoring performance in six particular categories: gross domestic product per capita, social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom to make your own life choices, generosity of the general population, and perceptions of internal and external corruption levels.

Six out of the top seven happiest countries in the world for 2024 were Northern European countries. Finland took top honors—for the tenth year in a row—with an overall score of 7.741, followed (in order) by Denmark (7.583), Iceland (7.525), Sweden (7.344), Israel (7.341), the Netherlands (7.319), and Norway (7.302).

Where does the United States rank on the list of the world’s happiest countries? The United States rank 23rd with a score of 6.73. (This was below the UK (#20), Slovenia (#21), and the United Arab Emirates (#22).

The least happy country in the world for 2024 was Afghanistan, whose 143rd-place ranking of 1.721 can be attributed in part to a low life expectancy rate, low gross domestic product rates per capita, and perhaps most importantly, the recent Taliban takeover of Afghanistan. Rounding out the bottom five are Lebanon (2.707), Lesotho (3.186), Sierra Leone (3.245), and DR Congo (3.295).

You can view the entire report here

Possible Preaching Angle:

This article did overlook the happiest country – the “heavenly country” that we pilgrims anticipate: “Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one” (Heb. 11:16); "You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore." (Psalm 16:11).

Googly eyes have been appearing on sculptures around the central Oregon city of Bend, delighting many residents and sparking a viral sensation covered widely by news outlets. On social media, the city shared photos of googly eyes on installations in the middle of roundabouts that make up its so-called “Roundabout Art Route.” One photo shows googly eyes placed on a sculpture of two deer, while another shows them attached to a sphere.

A Facebook post received hundreds of comments, with many users saying, “We love the googly eyes. This town is getting to be so stuffy. Let’s have fun!”

Now, after months of speculation, the mystery of the googly eyes has finally been solved. Jeff Keith is the founder of the nonprofit Guardian Group that combats human trafficking. But in his free time Keith apparently also battles boredom, because he claimed responsibility for placing googly eyes on public art sculptures around the city of Bend, Oregon.

Keith, who used duct tape to attach the googly eyes, admitted, “It’s a (way) for me to cope with some pretty heavy stuff," Keith said to an AP reporter. He noted the "unimaginable trauma" that many of the trafficking victims he's worked with have experienced.

The city of Bend shared photos of the googly-eye-decorated art, noting that adhesives can damage the art. According to city officials, eight sculptures were affected, and it cost $1,500 to remove all the googly eyes.

Keith said he didn’t anticipate the attention and offered to pay for any damages. After he came forward, a spokesperson for the city said its post had been misunderstood, and that the intention was to raise awareness about the damage adhesives can do to public art.

Keith hopes his pranks bring humor to people's lives. “I think the biggest thing is, for me, just to get a laugh,” he said. “When I come up on these roundabouts and I see families laughing, like hysterically laughing at these, it makes for a good time.”

Editor’s Note: You can see an example of the googly eyes here

Possible Preaching Angle:

While it is never a good idea to deface public art or buildings, we can appreciate the attempt to bring humor into people’s lives. As Proverbs says, “a cheerful heart is good medicine” (Prov. 17:22).

Giant companies that study us in hopes of unearthing insights that can help them sell more potato chips, laundry detergent, and lipstick have reached a conclusion that economists and pollsters have also found. We are unhappy—squeezed by inflation, troubled by global conflicts, and worried about an acrimonious election season. The companies are calibrating their pitches to entice us to open our wallets as a way of improving our collective mood.

Clorox thinks it can help with a new toilet bomb, a tablet of cleaner that foams and fizzes in the toilet bowl and releases a pleasant scent. “People are looking for a spark of fun and joy,” said Clorox’s general manager of cleaning. “We all know the world can get messy, but we understand the link between a clean environment and one’s physical and emotional well-being.”

As part of what Clorox calls a “consumer-obsessed” approach, staffers started using artificial-intelligence tools to scan digital media for new ideas. The Foaming Toilet Bomb is its first product from this initiative.

Procter & Gamble combs societal trends to select a scent of the year. So, P&G declared “Romance & Desire” its scent of the year, and bequeathed it to anxious Americans in the form of new Febreze air fresheners with a fragrance of pink rose petals and champagne spritz. The product line is intended to offer a sensory reminder of the importance of human connection, the company said.

Do you ever feel like you’re too busy to enjoy life? If so, that’s because you are probably too busy. Not that this is some amazing diagnosis: Most people are too busy.

According to surveys conducted in recent years by the Pew Research Center, 52 percent of Americans are usually trying to do more than one thing at a time, and 60 percent sometimes feel too busy to enjoy life. When it comes to parents with children under the age of 18, a full 74 percent said that they sometimes feel too busy to enjoy life.

Outside St. James Church in Shere, England, you will find a metal plaque marking the site of the cell of Christine Carpenter, Anchoress of Shere 1329.

An anchoress was a person who would withdraw from common life to dedicate themselves to God and bind themselves to the church by living the rest of their earthly life within a small cell. Much like many anchorite abodes, Christine’s small cell was attached to the church and installed with a small opening through which she would receive food, and a squint window into the church that allowed her to participate in services.

As noted on the plaque, Christine’s life as an anchoress began in 1329. She explained to the Bishop of Winchester that she wished to be removed from the world’s distractions to lead a more pious life. This request was granted following queries into Christine’s moral qualities and chastity, and she was sealed into the cell in July of the same year. As she began her lifelong vow of seclusion, a burial service was read for she was considered dead to the sinful world, the cell being her symbolic tomb.

Despite her oaths, Christine broke out of the anchorage after almost three years and attempted to rejoin society. Having broken her holy vow, Christine was threatened with ex-communication. It is perhaps this threat that led Christine to return to seclusion and isolation. By October of 1332, she had called on the Pope to pardon her sin on the condition she return to her anchorage. This she did, and there she remained for the rest of her mortal life.

Possible Preaching Angle:

It may sound attractive to seal ourselves away from worldly temptations. However, God calls his people to something much more difficult: Dying to the world while still living in it (Gal. 6:14). We are to be living saints (Phil. 4:21, Eph. 4:12), in the world with all its temptations and trials, so that we become testimonies to God’s grace and salvation.

So, laughter really is the best medicine. A mere chuckle is enough to expand cardiac tissue and increase the flow of oxygen throughout the body, thus exercising a weakened heart, according to a new study.

Scientists in Brazil set out to prove that “laughter therapy” can improve cardiovascular health and ease symptoms of heart disease. Professor Marco Saffi said, “Our study found that laughter therapy increased the functional capacity of the cardiovascular system.”

Researchers looked at 26 adults, at an average age of 64 who had previously been diagnosed with coronary artery disease. Every week for three months, half of the group viewed comedy programs while the other half watched serious documentaries about topics such as the Amazon rainforest or politics.

Results showed that the group who watched comedies had a 10% advancement in the amount of oxygen the heart could pump into the body as well as an improvement in their arteries’ ability to expand. Blood testing also detected notable reductions in inflammatory biomarkers, which can indicate if people are at risk for heart attack or stroke and show how much plaque is built up in blood vessels.

It’s believed that laughter has this effect because it releases endorphins, which are needed to maintain healthy blood pressure and reduce strain on the heart by keeping stress hormones low. Saffi said, “This study found that laughter therapy is a good intervention that could help reduce that inflammation and decrease the risk of heart attack and stroke. People should try to do things that make them laugh at least twice a week. Laughing helps people feel happier overall.”

Possible Preaching Angle:

Scripture foretold these findings many years ago. We read in Proverbs, “A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones” (Prov. 17:22). A happy heart produces good health, but a heavy spirit can drag you down.

N.D. Wilson writes in an article titled “God the Merrymaker”:

We Christians are the proclaimers of joy. We speak in this world on behalf of the One who made lightning and snowflakes and eggs. Or so we say. We say we want to be like God, and we feel we mean it. But we don’t. Not to be harsh, but if we did really mean it, we would be having a lot more fun than we are. We are made in God’s image and should strive to imitate him.

A dolphin flipping through the sun beyond the surf, a falcon in a dive, a mutt in the back of a truck, flying his tongue like a flag of joy. These all reflect the Maker more wholly than many of our endorsed thinkers, theologians, and churchgoers.

Look over our day-to-day lives. How do we parent, for example? Rules. Fears. Don’ts. “Don’t jump on the couch.” “No gluten in this house.” “Get down from that tree.” “Quiet down.” “Hold still.” We live as if God were an infinite list of negatives. In our bent way of thinking, that makes him the biggest stress-out of all.

We say that we would like to be more like God. Speak your joy. Mean it. Sing it. Do it. Push it down into your bones. Let it overflow your banks and flood the lives of others. At his right hand, there are pleasures forevermore. When we are truly like him, the same will be said of us.

In August of 2022, the University of Michigan Library announced that one of its most prized possessions, a manuscript said to have been written by Galileo around 1610, was in fact a 20th-century fake. This brought renewed attention to the checkered career of the man named as the likely culprit: Tobia Nicotra, a notorious forger from Milan.

Nicotra hoodwinked the U.S. Library of Congress into buying a fake Mozart manuscript in 1928. He wrote an early biography of the conductor Arturo Toscanini that became better known for its fictions than its facts. He traveled under the name of another famous conductor who had recently died. And in 1934 he was convicted of forgery in Milan after the police were tipped off by Toscanini’s son Walter, who had bought a fake Mozart from him.

Here's his explanation of what had motivated his many forgeries, which were said to number in the hundreds: “I did it to support my seven loves.” When the police raided Nicotra’s apartment in Milan, they found a virtual forgery factory, strewn with counterfeit documents that appeared to bear the signatures of Columbus, Mozart, Leonardo da Vinci, George Washington, the Marquis de Lafayette, Martin Luther, Warren G. Harding, and other famous figures.

Investigators had also found a sort of shrine to his seven mistresses, at least according to The American Weekly. The article described a room with black velvet-covered walls, with seven panels featuring paintings, sketches, and photographs of the women with fresh flowers in front of each. “Incidentally,” the publication added, “he had a wife.”

Eden Chen was a teenage shoplifter and competitive gamer. Then he found purpose beyond possessions in Christ. He shares his story in CT magazine:

Growing up, I was something of a nomad. I spent the first years of my life in the suburbs of Washington, DC. Then, at age six, I moved to Hong Kong, where I remained until the third grade before moving back to Maryland.

My parents raised my brother and me in the church. By the time we returned from Hong Kong, both of us had stopped going. I was obsessed with four things: video games, sports, material things, and chasing women. But I really excelled with the video game controller in my hand. At one point, I was one of the top 10 Warcraft 3 players in the United States.

Meanwhile, I had begun regularly shoplifting at the mall. On a weekly basis, my friends and I would compete to see who could walk out of the mall with the highest dollar value of stolen goods. Thankfully, God wouldn’t let me drift too far down this dangerous road.

At age 16, I began attending church again. I had always believed that God existed. From my perspective, it seemed likelier that nature and human creativity resulted from creation, rather than random chance. Still, for all my curiosity, I wasn’t eager to hear the answer. I knew well enough that discovering a righteous God could interrupt my preferred lifestyle of pursuing pleasure and doing as I pleased.

Then my youth pastor invited me on a mission trip to a rougher part of Nashville, Tennessee. During that trip, I met missionaries who helped reignite my search for God. They had lived in the inner-city projects and materially speaking they had next to nothing. But they were the most joyful people I had ever met. I had always assumed that more riches and possessions led to greater joy, but these missionaries were debunking that theory.

After returning home, I embarked on an all-encompassing search for God. I studied the major world religions—Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, and Christianity. I figured that if God was real, then he would probably make himself known. I read C. S. Lewis’ Mere Christianity, the most logical expression of faith that I had encountered. All of a sudden, it struck me that running away from Christianity would require more faith than running toward it. I felt that the gospel o­ffered the most compelling answers to life’s most important questions: Where does all of the good in the world come from? Where does all the evil in the world come from? How do I deal with personal guilt over the way I have lived my life?

The gospel presents a fascinating solution. In the instant someone accepts that they are a sinner and that Jesus is Lord, they are made righteous not because of what they have, but because of what Jesus did on the Cross. That was the most simple and complete solution to the problem of how God can punish sin without crippling sinners—that is, all of us—with guilt and condemnation.

Editor’s Note: Today, Chen heads up a creative agency called Fishermen Labs. They make virtual- and augmented-reality experiences, and emerging technology for startups and Fortune 100 companies. They hope to emulate the 12 fishermen that Jesus called to follow him—the most influential band of misfits in the history of the world.

An article, titled “The Digital Gap Between Rich and Poor Kids Is Not What We Expected,” revealed a surprising trend in Silicon Valley. The article cited the common concern during the late 1990s and 2000s that well-off kids would have much more access to the internet than poorer kids. The poor kids would fall further behind in school. Then there would be a huge “digital divide” between the rich and poor. So, there was a huge push to get every child more internet time.

But after the first iPhone and fourteen years after Facebook started, something unexpected happened. Richer families, especially Silicon Valley’s parents, started panicking over the impact screens were having on their children. These families started moving toward less screen time for their kids.

These parents weren’t social conservatives or Christians. They came right out of the belly of the digital beast in Silicon Valley. For instance, one ex-Microsoft executive noted, “There’s a message out there that your child is going to be crippled and in a different dimension if they’re not on the screen. That message doesn’t play as well in this part of the world.” Even Steve Jobs famously kept his own kids fairly tech-free. Other tech celebrities were doing likewise. Why?

As Chris Anderson, ex-editor of Wired and head of a robotics company, explained: “We thought we could control it [“it” refers to the internet, screens, social media, etc.].” Anderson continued, “And this is beyond our power to control. This is going straight to the pleasure centers of the developing brain. This is beyond our capacity as regular parents to understand.” He even compared the internet to crack cocaine.

Paris. The Grand Canyon. The Great Barrier Reef. The Pyramids of Giza. According to a TV show a few years ago, these are four of the fifty things you must see before you die. Not only was this BBC show popular, but books with titles like that have been on best-seller lists ever since.

In fact, the show seems to have spawned an entire new genre. As well as things to see before death, there's a host of other things to add to the list: "100 things to Do Before You Die," which includes milking a cow; "100 Things to Eat Before You Die," such as crocodile. Dozens of books and websites urge you to complete their lists, offering albums to listen to, movies to watch, sensations to experience. And the lists go on.

That this genre has all been so successful reveals something sig­nificant about us. It highlights what has become a great concern for many. We want to experience the best of what's out there before it's too late. It's a first-world problem: for those of us who don't worry about putting a roof over our heads or food on the table, our greatest fear seems to be getting to the end of life and feeling we've not gotten our money's worth.

And it's all feeding into the ever-growing pathology, fear of miss­ing out (FOMO) an anxiety prevalent enough to be the subject of study by psychologists. We're increasingly desperate not to miss the best of what's out there and plagued by the fear that we might be. Life is short. The world is big. We only get one shot.

Possible Preaching Angle:

The perspective of the Bible is very different. Yes, the world is big. And, yes, this life is short. But this life is not all there is. For believers, this brief life on earth is only the entry way into an eternity filled with joy and fulfillment beyond what our hearts can imagine, “what God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Cor. 2:9).

Author Lyall Watson, writing about the culture and habits of pigs, concludes that when young pigs play it is voluntary, random, and stimulated by novelty. “Jumping where there is nothing to jump over, running without going anywhere, fleeing when there is no enemy to flee from--all these are actions that lack any obvious function. They appear to be undertaken purely for pleasure.” Young wild boars chase windfall apples as readily as kittens chase balls of wool.

We call such behavior “play” and find no difficulty in recognizing it when we see it. It is easy to distinguish. An animal involved in play-fleeing or play-fighting looks very different from one seriously occupied in flight or fight. But it would be wrong to regard play just as something opposed to work. It is far more important than that.

Play is voluntary. You can’t make someone play or legislate play into being. A pig wearing a silly hat and jumping through a hoop isn’t playing. Play implies, pleasure, fun, and a definite lack of constraint. It’s something that comes more naturally to the young than it does to adults.

Play is almost certainly a complex collection of activities that are not just frivolous. The amount of time spent on it by young animals suggests that it is important; and a lack of it may impair the acquisition of vital social abilities. Play seems to be necessary for a healthy brain in pigs as well as people.

The pleasure of taste starts with the taste buds and ends with electrical signals reaching the reward centers in the brain. This is not just true of people; it is true of animals as well. All animals have taste buds, including those that live under the water. The catfish, for example, has taste buds virtually all over its skin, earning it the nickname “the swimming tongue.” Flies, spiders, and fruit flies have taste buds on their feet.

Animals taste and enjoy their food as much as we do. Watch a squirrel closely next time you come across one squatting on the lawn holding an acorn with its two hands and nibbling the insides. You’ll see it nibbling away with its teeth quite rapidly. What you don’t see is the tongue inside the mouth that is busy manipulating the little bits of food and tasting the ingredients, swallowing what is delicious and even just acceptable.

Possible Preaching Angles:

Taste and see that the Lord and his Word are good (Psa. 34:8; Psa. 19:10). God invites us to experience him and his Word as a pleasurable experience which feeds our soul.

The Good Place is a popular comedy TV show that follows four humans and their experience in an imagined afterlife. People accumulate points based on their good and bad actions on earth and then they’re sent to either “the good place” (heaven) or “the bad place” (hell).

But the characters soon realize that there is a problem in heaven—everything is wonderful, but no one seems happy. One of the Good Place’s residents says, “You get here, and you realize that anything is possible, and you do everything and then you’re done. But you still have infinity left. This place kills fun, and passion, and excitement and love.”

In the show’s final season, to counter the boredom of an eternal existence, the characters decide that the best solution is to give people an escape. The main character explains:

When you feel happy, and satisfied and complete and you want to leave the Good Place for good, you can just walk through [a door leading out of heaven] and your time in the universe will end. You don’t have to go through it if you don’t want to, but you can. And hopefully knowing that you don’t have to be here forever will help you feel happier while you are.

When one of the residents of the Good Place asks what will happen when they pass through this door, the main character says he’s not sure: “All we know is it will be peaceful, and your journey will be over.” They encourage them to have the time of their lives, and then, “when you’re ready, walk through one last door and be at peace.” The show’s argument, then, is that when heaven becomes unbearable, people should have the choice to end their time there on their own terms and in a peaceful manner.

Beauty and Sabbath go hand in hand. Both are extravagant. Unproductive. Unnecessary. Both are reflections of God's abundance and reminders that the world is chiefly a gift to receive, not a prize to be earned. Beauty doesn't have to exist. The fact that humans delight in sunsets, symphonies … and pecan pie cannot be explained by the Darwinian account of human existence.

The only explanation that makes sense of beauty is that we are created in the image of God who relishes it; a non-utilitarian God. Just look at the ten thousand species of birds in the world, or the four hundred thousand species of flowers; each unique in color, shape, and texture. Consider the diversity of spices—from cumin to cayenne to nutmeg and turmeric. God could have created the world so that humans only needed to have a bland, gruel-like substance in order to survive, but he didn't. He created thousands of edible plants and animals, from which millions of culinary combinations could be made. He created humans with taste buds to appreciate things like salted caramel gelato, buttermilk fried chicken, and lamb tagine. Just as he is a God who not only creates but pauses to enjoy what he has created (Gen. 1:31), so he created us with the capacity to enjoy. That's why beauty exists.

When we refuse to observe the Sabbath and don't allow space for the enjoyment of beauty, we implicitly signal a mentality that doubts the goodness of God. But when we do stop to rest, to feast, to "smell the roses," we display a contentedness and calm acceptance about the world and the One who holds it together.

Viktor Frankl was an Austrian Holocaust survivor, neurologist, psychiatrist, and author. His writings on man’s search for meaning in the face of horrors like the Holocaust made him a highly regarded source for thoughts on the subject. When life’s trials and sufferings are overwhelming, how and where can meaning be found? He lived when global consumerism was at its beginnings. In this analogy, he asserts that consumerism’s offerings of pleasure, as well as other types of pleasure, do not and cannot contribute to any useful meaning or understanding of life:

Let us imagine a man who has been sentenced to death and, a few hours before his execution, has been told he is free to decide on the menu for his last meal. The guard comes into his cell and asks him what he wants to eat, offers him all kinds of delicacies; but the man rejects all his suggestions. He thinks to himself that it is quite irrelevant whether he stuffs good food into the stomach of his organism or not, as in a few hours it will be a corpse. And even the feelings of pleasure that could still be felt in the organism’s cerebral ganglia seem pointless in view of the fact that in two hours they will be destroyed forever.

But the whole of life stands in the face of death, and if this man had been right, then our whole lives would also be meaningless, were we only to strive for pleasure and nothing else—preferably the most pleasure and the highest degree of pleasure possible. Pleasure in itself cannot give our existence meaning; thus, the lack of pleasure cannot take away meaning from life, which now seems obvious to us.

The essential point is that when suffering is crushing and life holds no luster, our lack of enjoyment of life’s pleasures should not doom us to meaninglessness and despair.

East Syracuse Minoa High field hockey coach Kate Harris challenged her players, who were all dedicated and focused, to loosen up a bit. Harris said, “I had called them ‘boring’ the other day. They are very quiet this year. I am used to having a very loud team. I pretty much told them to let their weirdness out.”

As a team, they formally accepted the challenge. Literally. At the start of one of the ensuing practices, the entire team showed up decked out in formal wear, wearing either shirts-and-ties or brightly colored prom dresses.

Senior Kodi Smith thought up the idea in the aftermath of a loss. Searching for a way to switch things up, she began texting her teammates, who then began texting back pictures of potential outfits to wear. Senior Olivia Grabowski said, “At first we were all like, is she being serious? It was definitely a joke at first. I’m happy that the joke turned into something happening.”

The practice turned into a prelude for their annual tradition of dressing up in costume for a Halloween practice, wherein players in different student classes pick themes with which to adhere and coordinate. After the success of their impromptu dress-up day, Smith acknowledges that it might be tough to raise the bar, creatively speaking. “The seniors have ideas. We’re going to figure it out. We’re going to go all out, definitely.”

Possible Preaching Angle:

Even in hard times, we do well to find ways to inject fun and levity into life, so that we are not too often overcome by grief and heaviness.