| FEBRUARY 2, 2011 -- In the cold and wintry month of February, let us consider that faith matters. Each of us can welcome a new challenge as we try doing something for the first time. The thing about approaching any problem with good humor and fun, as we do when playing a game, is it brings us into the present, opens our intuition and creativity and gives us the inner freedom to improvise.
This simple wisdom frustrates many who want the big strategy before the big game. They know fun has a creative power all its own. Going forth into the unknown area, handling situations with unexpected grace, wit and joy, playing full out, we call this experience fun. Fun produces a unification of mind and body. Fun is not trivial, it is essential.
Two hundred fifty years ago there was a certain sober decorum expected of people. It was unseemly for religious folk to let on that they might deeply enjoy life. A severe Calvinist theology was there to extinguish any fires of gaiety that might blaze up in a moment of forgetfulness. Parents who dared to kick up their heels even embarrassed their children. God was very serious.
That is why it was so delightful to find in Benjamin Franklin a spirit of playfulness, goodwill and good humor that he carried into some of the strictest issues of early America. The exuberance and generosity of God’s whole creation empowers an upbeat, playful spirit. “I tell you do not worry about your life,” Jesus told his tearful disciples. Here is a first century example of let go and let God. We let go of worry and make friends with the unknown by letting God and His upbeat and playful light hearted Spirit fill us even with good old- saints preserve us fun. |
