08.16.19 - week 16
on trying to laugh at yourself
‘a merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.’
proverbs 17.22 (kjv)
i’m being called a con man. anyone who knows me or follows me on instagram knows i spill coffee. and lots of other things. but lately several people have accused me of doing a ‘bit.’ like jimmy kimmel’s matt damon thing or (formerly) famous christian performance art atheism, people ask if my spilling is ‘real’ or simply behavior cultivated for attention. sadly, it’s 100% real. all the way back to 2nd grade, i have struggled with my fine motor skills. bad handwriting, deplorable at crafts, no chance at legos etc;. add in the multiplying factor of perpetually going too fast and i spill a lot of things, really often.
so i have adapted by stashing a spare shirt in the car and at work (which one time was memorably ‘borrowed’ and worn by a co-worker 40 years my senior) and by learning to laugh about it. when i was growing up my parents made us memorize and recite, ‘if you can’t laugh at yourself, the whole world stinks.’ the helpful point being: the ability to see our frailties and follies and smile rather than get all worked up and tense frees life from unneeded stress.
my wife is a master at this. a few weeks ago, her sister visited us. kristen said her favorite part of the vacation was when we went to the wrong beach and lugged firewood half a mile only to realize there were no fire pits around and lugged the wood back to the car. she delights in finding humor in the small disasters of daily life, and it makes her a delight to live with.
one of the temptations during difficult times is to get too serious, to start thinking endless somber-ness is the ticket to where god is taking you. in certain pockets of christendom, fussing + faultfinding are fruits of the spirit. yet, that is not where abundant life is found.
german theologian helmut thiecke says, ‘a church is in a bad way when it banishes laughter from the sanctuary and leaves it to the cabaret, the nightclub and the toastmasters’
so i guess the point is, laugh a little. don’t worry that all amusement is somehow counterproductive (as i was once sternly told at a fancy dinner by a cheerless woman). if it will eventually be funny, why not let it be now. your brand won’t be ruined by showing your frailty, normal non-ridiculous people like you that way. so laugh a little. and maybe pray that i learn how to hold my coffee.
KG Korner
(a few wise words from lady kristen macdonald)
This week I got my hair done by a guy who didn’t speak english. I guess you could call it “adventures in moving somewhere new” and choosing a hair place based on reviews and prices. When I first met Paul, (no joke, that’s his name) he was kind of doing that thing people do when they can’t hear which is smile and nod politely. So when I asked him how long he had lived here and he asked the owner of the salon to translate I thought… what have I gotten myself into?! But what I found super interesting was that when I told him what I wanted and that I really needed help covering my grays he was like, “oh yes, you really do need to cover the grays, I see them!’ You see when I would go to my friends to color my hair they would often say ‘what grays?’ or they would compare my grays to the amount they had. After this recent experience, I’m thinking they didn’t want to offend me. This is what I will say about Paul, I appreciated his candor.
I tell you that story to share this simple truth today that I was reminded of this week in the Psalms verses 142:1-2, “With my voice I cry out to the Lord; with my voice I plead for mercy to the Lord. I pour out my complaint before him; I tell my troubles before him.” I have learned in this season, God wants to hear my real authentic pleas, heartaches, & pain. Tim Keller writes about this psalm this: “Decorous prayer has its place, but desperate prayer, from the heart, is something that God honors.”
There are prayers that are proper and that are filled with thankfulness and joy for how awesome God is. But He also says in His word He wants us to seek Him and pray to Him because He has big enough shoulders to carry all my burdens. Sometimes in our familiarity with God we go to ‘niceties’ in prayer just like my friends who insisted I had few grays. I think we slip into this pattern because it’s way more comfortable than pouring out our heart. But I believe that’s what He wants: to hear our real, raw hearts, our longings, our desperate pleas - that’s where they are released and our trust in a faithful God rises.
-Kristen
Book Review
partly because i have always felt guilty for not reading more strategically.
partly because i don’t have the money to buy books at the rate i have been lately.
partly because i detest chronological snobbery.
i looked through my shelves and found some old books i have never thoroughly studied. i know it isn’t very 2019 to believe people who are already dead could possibly have something helpful to say, but the past few weeks i have been so blessed by these.
the straightforward truth in each is so wonderful, i will let them speak for themselves with a page each below. the discipline of reading things that have stood the test of the time helps broaden our perspective outside the trends + language of the moment.
1. spiritual leadership – oswald sanders
2. hudson taylor’s spiritual secret – dr. + mrs. howard taylor
3. prayer : more than words – leroy eims
Favorite Paragraph This Week
3 Things I Really Liked This Week
1. one of my favorite bands, drew holcomb & the neighbors has a record out and you will love it. great late summer time tunes.
2. i was blessed this week by this podcast from my friend banning, really encouraged me
3. the #housefullofmacboys have gone skateboarding crazy this summer. that got me thinking about x games legend tony hawk … this little interview w him was super inspiring to me.