Bella Runs This House: A Funny Bones Story for When You Needed a Laugh
Divine Ones, let me tell you about the smallest landlord in Memphis.
She does not pay rent. She does not pay a light bill. She weighs almost nothing, she chirps like a little bird when she wants something, and she will sprawl out on my couch like her name is on the deed. Her name is Bella LaShawn, and I am just here to tell you the truth, she runs this house.
If you came here tonight because your spirit has been heavy and you did not expect to laugh, stay right here. Sometimes the medicine is not deep. Sometimes the medicine has whiskers.
It starts before my coffee
My morning order is set, and it is not about me first.
Bailey gets fed. Bella gets fed. Then coffee. Then breakfast for me. That is the law in this house, and nobody voted on it but the animals.
Bailey is my dog, a stocky black and white boy with a short coat and strong opinions about bedding. I can fix his bed up nice and soft in his house, just right, and he will drag that bed right back out to where he wanted it in the first place, by his tree. He likes soft stuff, he just wants it on his terms. I know grown people like that too, but we are not going to name names tonight.
And Bella, Lord. I spent a whole afternoon sweating and building that girl a whole cat mansion, a whole play structure, because I wanted her to be happy in her new home. She took to it too, chasing that little ball like she was on a mission. A mansion. For a kitten. Who joined this family in October and already has real estate.
Then there is the fireplace situation
Now I have to tell on her, because Funny Bones is honest bones.
Bella found the little gap where the fireplace mesh does not close all the way, and she has been slipping in there like she owns a secret apartment. In the ash, Divine Ones. Ash on her little paws, and my one fear is those ashy paws landing right on my cream colored couch, the same couch she already stretches out on like she pays rent.
I stood there looking at that fireplace, looking at her sweet little orange face, and I had to laugh, because what else can you do. You can fuss, or you can laugh and go find curtains that close all the way. Both can be true, but the laughing will save your blood pressure while you shop.
That is Bella. Fiery, sassy, a little orange tabby girl in a house full of big energy. Even how we found out she was a girl was a whole story, because I asked the cards and she answered like a queen about it. She has been that girl from day one.
Why I am telling you this on a Monday
Monday has a way of walking in loud. Bills, work, family, the week already talking before you have had a chance to breathe. And if you have been carrying heavy things for a long time, your spirit can forget that laughter is part of the healing too.
Laughter is not you avoiding the work. Laughter is proof the work did not take your joy all the way down. When you can still laugh at a kitten sneaking into a fireplace, or a dog dragging his bed across the yard because he did not like where you put it, something in you is still soft, still alive, still able to receive a good moment when God sends one.
That is the WHAT and the WHY, and I give it to you free. Joy is not extra. Joy is maintenance for the soul. A house with laughter in it can hold a lot of prayer, and this house holds both.
In the Academy, we talk about the deeper side of this too, how to protect your joy on purpose, how to build a daily life that makes room for spirit and for laughter at the same time. If you ever want those deeper rooms, they are here when you are ready: https://www.divinecandi.com/challenge-page/69f405a5-af75-480d-ae49-41073445e8a1
No pressure on a Monday night. Tonight, I just wanted you to smile before you slept.
A little prayer for the one who needed a laugh
Lord, thank You for small mercies with fur on them.
Thank You for the moments that catch us off guard and remind us we are still here, still loved, still able to laugh in the middle of a real life. Lift the heaviness off the one reading this tonight, even if it is just for this one moment, and let them carry this lightness into their week.
Cover our homes, cover our babies, two legged and four legged, and give us rest tonight.
In Jesus name, amen.
Read next
If you had a heavy week and you need a Sunday word to carry into Monday, sit with this one next: Rise Anyway: A Sunday Word for the One Who Had a Heavy Week, https://www.divinecandi.com/post/rise-anyway-a-sunday-word-for-the-one-who-had-a-heavy-week
And if your mind starts racing after the laughter fades tonight, this prayer is waiting for you: Lord, Quiet My Mind: A 3 AM Prayer for the One Who Cannot Sleep, https://www.divinecandi.com/post/lord-quiet-my-mind-a-3-am-prayer-for-the-one-who-cannot-sleep
Tell me in the comments, what is the funniest thing your pet, your child, or somebody in your house has done lately that made you laugh when you needed it most? I want to read them all.
Laugh a little tonight, Divine Ones. Joy looks good on you too.
With love and a little laughter,
Divine Candi
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