Serious Humor

I love to laugh. It is good medicine. In fact, I believe that it is one of the most readily available ways to "be healed" from a tough day, a hard week, or even a difficult year.

One of the things that I have noticed is that when I try to be funny, I am usually not. There is a kind of natural humor that comes with just being transparent and honest. When I am not concerned about protecting my ego I find that humor is a blessing to me and to others. Canned jokes often go over like a lead balloon but a story that reveals my humanity and presents the joy of living life with family and friends who love you, even when you look foolish, is received with big smiles and often genuine laughter.

C.S. Lewis once wrote, "Joy is the serious business of heaven." I love that line.

There are things that you can talk about that are very serious and important matters, that are communicated much more effectively when presented in partnership with humor.

I have watched people burst out in joyous laughter and a few minutes later they are so touched by something serious that tears flow down their cheeks.

I love the scenes in Genesis where Abraham and Sarah laughed when God told them they would have a baby. They were both old and beyond the normal years of having kids. It was a moment of serious humor - who would not laugh at such an idea! At the same time, they were called to trust God in a way that was truly amazing and they did! (Gen. 17:17; 18:11-15)

Thank God for the gift of laughter - gracious humor - that can help us deal with some of the most serious things of living.

Just thinking and laughing, Steve

I Like People!

We laugh in my line of work and say that this job would be easy - a piece of cake - if it wasn't for people! The truth is I really like people. This job would be boring with out people and it is certainly not boring!

People are amazing! They deal with the most complicated lives, families, jobs, and situations and many of them keep a smile on their face.

People are surprising! I keep experiencing things with people that I could have never imagined. Just about the time I have decided I have seen it all and heard it all, a human being will do something so surprising.

People are mysterious! I know people who live the most mysterious lives imaginable. They work at jobs that even when they explain what they do, I still do not really know what they do. I know a guy who commutes to work over 200 miles each day, four days a week. Six plus hours in a car every day - wow, that is something that is beyond understanding to me. (My commute is 10 minutes each way.)

People are durable! My father was one of the kindest guys you could ever have met but he was so tough. He could endure things that seemed so daunting to me. Work three jobs at a time, caring for his dear ailing wife for years without one complaint, and giving people a second chance, time and time again!

Give me people - all kinds, all so interesting, challenging, and spectacular!

In the Psalms there is the line about human beings;
"You made humans a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned them with glory and honor." Psalm 8:5

C. S. Lewis commented that we should be careful when we meet a person because there is the potential, because of God's design, for true greatness - the kind that would take our breath away if we could see all that will come of their life.

Enjoy people - welcome them into your life and get ready for something truly amazing!

Just thinking, Steve