Humor, Laughter and Spirituality

"Angels Can Fly, Because they don't take themselves too seriously"

      A light-hearted spirituality has room for joy and laughter.  "If the joy of the Lord is our strength," then we can encourage both laughter and prayer.  Let us hear the words of St. Paul, "Rejoice in the Lord, again I say rejoice."

       Indeed, our encouragement of the silly, playful and light-hearted may be part of our gifts of service to a hurting world. So I give you this prayer.  

 

 

 

                      

"Dear Lord, 

A smile, a bit of humor, a touch  -- these are such small gifts in a

hurting world.  And yet, ungiven the world you love hurts more.

   Let the radiance of your joy and love shine through me as I

remember to give the smallest of gifts as sacramental fragments of

grace to a hurting world.              AMEN

      

            Humor    --     Playful Spirituality    --     Dog Humor

 

                                                    Zen Dog

       My dog is practicing zen, again.  His eyes are shut; his mind is blank, his breathing is rhythmic and slow.  No worries, no cares.  Just the warm sun upon fur and cold, wet nose.  When he itches, he scratches. 

 

                                                                     Pure Dog

      Dogs are not confused about their dogness, the way humans are sometimes confused by their humanity.  No dog is doubting its dogness.  They are pure dogs   -- complete in their absolute dogness.  They are far from identity confusion and existential angst.  No dog is trying to find itself.  They are what they are.  What's more, they know it ! 

 

  ReWrite       Say an ugly word and soon it sprouts wings and flies about the town.  "His judgement is cooked.  His ways are weird."      But if some tale you must be telling -- cooking bits of truth into a strange new soup, I beg of you, "PLEASE -- You've lied before, you can do it again !  Make Me Sweeter, Make Me Better."   Say my waist is thinner, and my hair is thicker.  Tell them I was seen coming out of a famous clinic -- the lines erased from my face.  Tell them my smile is brighter, and that some folks say I've come into a lot of money.

Tell your tale and twist the truth, but "Please, make me sweeter, make me better."

The Hard Cold Stare    This bee has such a hard, cold stare.  Is he tired?  Do his wings hurt, like my feet sometimes do?  Is he annoyed that I am making his sound -- bzzzs, bzzzs, bzzzzsss?  Is he afraid I will steal his honey?  I hope I never stare like that.  Surely, it would frighten dogs and make babies cry.

Blessed and Smiling     

   As we walked away from the funeral my friend said, "He was blessed." Thinking of his modest life and small pension I asked, "What do you mean?"

"His easy smile with those crooked teeth -- his ability to laugh and play with children -- those were his blessings."

"Did you know I found him once at 75 in a park teaching a child how to fly a kite?"

"That's what I mean, he kept the joy of life fresh for so long."      "Did you ever see him pray on Thanksgiving Day with eyes open just talking to God "about all the good we have?"       "Yes, I did, and once he passed me a slice of chocolate pie while he was praying  . . .  I think he was truly grateful and in love with life all his days.  That was a great blessing."

 

Feel free to contact us at brucewllmsn@yahoo.com              Copyright Bruce Williamson, 2010