I Have Never Understood Why- Daily Meditation-August 11, 2021
Today’s Quotation:
I have never understood why it should be considered derogatory to the Creator to suppose that He has a sense of humor.-Dean Inge
Today’s Meditation:
Sometimes I think we all could lighten up a bit. When we start to take life too seriously, much of the enjoyment that’s here in plentiful supply is lost, and we end up depriving ourselves of a lot of the legitimate enjoyment that we have available to us.
Our religions, whether we want to admit it or not, do a lot to make us feel guilty for enjoying ourselves. Yes, we have responsibilities and yes, we need to be careful about what we do, but when our religions paint a picture of a harsh, judgmental God who’s just waiting to punish us for our misdeeds, they cause us to start seeing this life as some sort of trail of tears and misery, with enjoyment happening only occasionally.
Personally, I think that any God has to have a great sense of humor. So much of life is paradoxical and hard to understand that it seems obvious that its creator had to have been thinking humorous thoughts when life was created. I don’t think a God would laugh at us, of course, but rather with us, experiencing our follies and our gaffs with us with great gusto.
However, we see God, seeing God with a sense of humor isn’t just about the way we see God–it also has a lot to do with the way we see life in general. If we experience life as long-term suffering that we have to fight our way through, then what do we get out of it? Too many people live with martyr complexes, and end up getting next to nothing out of the gift of life with which they were blessed. Me, I want to laugh along with God and enjoy my time here, for then I can truly help others to enjoy their time on this planet, also.
Questions to ponder:
1. Why do you think so many people take life so seriously?
2. How can we find a balance between taking life seriously and recognizing and appreciating the humor that is with us every day?
3. Why would God give us the ability to laugh if he couldn’t laugh himself?
For further thought:
It is more worthy in the eyes of God . . . if a writer makes three pages sharp and funny about the lives of geese then to make three hundred fat and flabby about God or the American people. -Garrison Keillor
