"I see you scraped a knuckle and cut the back of your hand. You must have been fighting at the bar again. Somebody spill your milk there?" Ed questioned me with laughing sarcasm. He was referring to my puckered, stitched and beat-up looking hand.
"Sorry to disappoint you, Ed, but my doctor cut a growth out of the back of my hand," I answered.
"Why didn't you have him cut off your spare tire while he was at it?" asked Ed.
"My spare tire is one of my most striking features. Without it, I'd lose my place in the brotherhood of big guts. Who wants to be just another old string bean no one is afraid of running into?" I replied. "You aren't envious of my huge waist are you?" I asked Ed.
"Hardly," Ed answered, "it just bugs me that people think it is a real beer gut. It is like you are deceiving people on purpose!"
"No deception intended," I replied. This discussion with Ed got me thinking about my passion to joke with people and poke fun at the seriousness of people and life.
I could be in big trouble if God does not have a sense of humour. I cannot prove that God loves to laugh and to joke, but I believe in a heaven full of laughter, smiles and good fun. It seems to me, one of the causalities of our fall into sin is the breaking of our God-given sense of humour. The gift of laughter is intended to help us laugh at ourselves. Surely we need to laugh at ourselves more. Isn't humour the other side of the coin called humility? Doesn't the one with it laugh best?
Of course, a sense of humour must be balanced with an appropriate occasion for it. The Bible says that there is a time for everything. "There is a time to laugh and a time to weep." They are both beautiful in their own way.
I have always felt that church should have a generous share of laughter and joking. So many parishioners have shared with me over the years that church is not about enjoyment or being filled with an abundance of laughter. They seem to truly believe that church is to be a time of quiet suffering. I agree that church isn't centred on entertainment or laughter but on God and His will for us.
Yet surely God's Spirit works wonders in both laughter and tears. Church isn't just about "sit up and listen up" in respect to God. Many seem to forget that God sees past our best behaviour. Perhaps God laughs most at our bluffing before Him. Maybe more honest laughter at ourselves at church would be a blessing.
One way to think of deception is that, when it takes place, balance is missing. When there is deceit, it has to do with too much of something. Rain is good, but it has to be balanced with dry or it can be a flood or too wet. Anything without balance can become dangerous. My big gut means a lack of balance in eating the right foods, in the correct portions and a lack of sufficient exercise.
If my sense of humour and joking around leads to another's cheerful heart then it is good medicine. Yet, I must be careful it does not crush another's spirit and wound rather than bless.
