Good Morning ya'll. How you been? I know we're a little behind so we have some catching up to do. We are on day 17 of our 30 lessons in 30 years. Did I ever tell ya'll I was a comedian? Well, I'm not haha! But I like to think I am because I crack myself up aaall the time. One day I want to do an amateur night and see how it feels. I KNOW it's not an easy task to be a stand-up comedian and I have so much respect for those who do it and are good at it. I actually believe that comedy is ministry. This is a ministry that helps spread joy and laughter, and those who are particularly skilled at the craft can take the grimmest of subjects and find the humor in it. This brings me to our lesson:
FIND THE HUMOR
Have you ever been around children? Have you noticed that they find almost everything funny? It's really not too difficult to make a child laugh. They have the bliss of not having the weight of life on them that makes us take things so seriously. It's a bliss that I do believe that we can all still tap into. At first, it takes some intentionality and then in time it just becomes natural. This bliss comes from the ability to find the humor. It is easier said than done, but it is possible.
For those of you who don't know me all too well, let me give you just a short list of what my life has looked like growing up: poverty, abuse of all kinds, suicidal thoughts and attempts, abandonment, depression, bullying, and loss. Child I have been through SOME THANGS. I know some of you read that and thought "Why did you only mention the bad things, I'm sure your life hasn't been that bad, why aren't you more grateful." Well, sometimes it's not always that easy. When you read the book of Job, this man who was faultless in the eyes of God, we are told at the beginning just how blessed he was.... until. Then we read chapter after chapter of Job lamenting all of these negative things. There are times in our lives (at least for some of us) when things get so bad that it feels like EVERYTHING IS BAD. It does not negate the fact that we have been blessed before, that we are still blessed, nor the fact that we will be blessed again, but we are in the midst of THIS storm, we need help in THIS STORM. There are some very practical steps that we can take in the midst of the storm that can help us, and one of those is finding the humor.
James 1:2 reads "Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds". When I looked up the definition of Joy, it says "a feeling of great pleasure and happiness". So how the HECK can I find a feeling of great pleasure and happiness in the midst of trials of any kind? By finding the humor. This is how I know that Jesus was probably HILARIOUS because the troubles He faced were innumerable, and if He counted them as joy I KNOOOOOOW He got jokes.
Finding the humor looks like Picking out something that you can laugh at. For example, in the Haitian culture, we have this saying when you're doing something that might get you in trouble "Wap Kon George", which means "You're going to get to know George". Now nobody knows who George is, but we know it's a threat, none of us want to find out who George is. Well about 7 years ago, my brother found himself in some serious legal trouble. These past 7 years have been some of the most depressing and difficult years of my life. My family and I did everything we could to help him out, including getting him a good lawyer. Can you guess what the lawyer's name is? Guess. Just Guess. ... GEORGE! FREAKING GEORGE! I just said " these past 7 years have been some of the most depressing and difficult years of my life" right?" Well one day I'm on the phone with my best-friend real sad about the situation and I said out loud "Welp, he finally kon George" and bust out laughing out loud. I KNOW IT'S NOT FUNNY...... but also..... IT WAS HILARIOUS! I mean God gave me the ally it was only right that I dunk it right?! Like WHAT ARE THE ODDS?! Laughing about the situation helped release so much pressure in my brain. I felt so much better afterward. It was/is a very serious situation and we were taking it very seriously but at some point, we just needed to laugh and find the humor, and that was my gateway joke to finding the humor in that situation.
Finding the humor can also look like cracking jokes on ourselves. There was one time I had been so strapped for cash I went and got 3 jobs back to back. I mean 3 TIME-CONSUMING jobs. I already had 1, and the applied and got 2 more. When I finally came to my senses I wanted to call and reject the jobs I had already accepted and was expecting to begin. Now one thing ya'll got to know about me is that I am a woman of my word. It is very difficult for me to renege on something I committed to. So I find myself praying and the conversation goes like this:
Me: God I'm tired already and I haven't even started these jobs
God: Who told you to get them?
Me: Well I needed the money
God: You didn't trust me to take care of you
Me: Chill with that. I was trying to put work to my faith, you know faith without works is dead and I'm never afraid to work
God: I still didn't tell you to go get those jobs. There you go trusting in your own works again
Me: Alright Alright ALRIGHT! Ok! So I'm sorry, but we're here now. You know I'm not going to quit because you created me to be a woman of my word so if you want to not have these jobs anymore, then I need you to get me out of this. I'm sorry, but please help!
I'm not even playing ya'll this is a real conversation I had with God about 3 years ago. Would you believe... One of the jobs discontinued the program and so I never had to go in, and the other "decided to go a different route and no longer needed my services". But here's the humor: My friend Charise and I spent about 20 minutes laughing at how God was probably looking down at me like "This girl is so annoying! Why is she like this?! Look at you. STRESSED. Watch she come make me fix it. I already factored in her stupidity and stubbornness, these jobs aren't even going to work out" HE KNEW THE WHOLE TIME and just that image had me cracking UP. And in the laughter released the pressure from my brain. It just felt good to laugh about it. AND THEN my original job gave me a raise and a few more hours in the week that made up for what I was lacking. I CAN'T MAKE THIS STUFF UP!
Listen, I don't know what you are going through. But I can tell you this if you can find the humor in it, even the smallest thing, it'll actually make a greater impact on how you come out of it. Sometimes you've got to laugh your way out of a situation. Sometimes you got to laugh to keep from crying. Sometimes you've got to laugh to heal. Try and find the humor. I promise it'll make a difference!
I love ya'll for reading, and I love ya'll for real!
- Woods
Lighting up the woods, one Syllable at a time
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