Humor
“Laughter is carbonated holiness.”—Anne Lamott.
Anne Lamott is a brilliant writer who has helped me look for the humor in the truth.
There is no question that the God of our understanding has a sense of humor. Therefore, our spiritual life or relationship with God also should reflect that humor. Some things that happen to us can be explained only by acknowledging that our God does indeed have a sense of humor! This is the God who keeps bringing annoying people into my life–until I realize that what bothers me about them is something unrecognized in myself. I see this as an example of God’s little “jokes.”
Sometimes there are situations in life that can be tolerated only by our having a sense of humor. There was a boy in our medical school class, Mike Levinson, whose frequent quote was, “You’ve got to laugh or you will cry!” Some challenges then were so difficult that we had to find some lightness in them. When we can acknowledge humor and even absurdity in life, I believe that that is the Spirit working in us to comfort us. If the joke is at someone else’s expense, making fun of another—it is not from God. I see God in situations when I can see humor in some of my own character defects, my sins. “Goodness gracious, God, I just did it again!”
I learned about humor and character defects from 12-step groups. It is not “gallows humor” when something deadly serious is made fun of in a silly or seemingly disrespectful way. There is a fine line.
My mother did the best she could in her lifetime, but I did not appreciate her. I can now remember that every time I would call her, I would expect her to be different, instead of contemplating how I might change my way of relating to her. I now look back on this, and rather than beating myself up, I see how humorous it is to “do the same thing over and over the same way and expect a different result.” It is so true it is humorous. It is also insanity!
When I become too serious or am visited by a friend who is looking at life too soberly, my experience is that the antidote for both of us is play: playing with our children or grandchildren, being with friends who know better than we do how to lighten up and “let go.”
Joanna joannaseibert@me.com
