Little moments of joy

the-way-of-joy Greg Olsen Jesus disciple Jesus talks laughs smilesI suspect, well in fact I know, that Jesus has a fantastic sense of humour.  I know this because His disciples were passionate followers who left their lives to accompany Him - and people don't do that unless the person they are following is captivating, charismatic, intriguing and warm.  Jesus told stories which poked fun at the establishment and I'm sure made the crowd smile.  He told Peter to go and find a fish and proceeded to produce a coin from its mouth ' Ta Da!'     Jesus was invited to parties, dinners and weddings.  People liked Him.  He was, as they say in this part of the world ' good craic'   So many of the images we see of Jesus show Him as being so deadly serious - I like this one I found when surfing the net.  Im pretty sure He spent more time smiling than He did frowning.

The other reason that I know Jesus has a great sense of humour is that we, His people, made in the image of God, also have a great sense of humour ( most of us 😉 ).  We have the capacity to find things funny, to experience joy, to understand a joke.  A sense of humour, from an ' evolutionary' point of view, surely cant have much of a function.  But we human beings are playful, mischievous, silly.  We play pranks, we see ironies, we love puns and word plays and clever plot twists.   Surely God must be like this too?   And if there's ever a time when we all need a bit of light relief and a smile - now is it.

Someone sent me this today.   In the light of the news that churches can no longer meet it made me laugh out loud      .https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOrYN2rb3OI

This afternoon I was driving back from town with all three of my boys.  Since Sam went off to Uni in September there have hardly been any times when we have all been together in the same place at the same  time and I have missed the nonsense that happens when the three lads are in the car.  For some reason the car brings out the silliness in them.  And today Sam plugged in his phone, found some tunes and the four of us started singing along at the top of our lungs.  A bit of Beyonce - with various silly voices, harmonies and epic key changes, followed by Michael Buble and McFly.   I could hardly sing cos I was smiling so much.  The joy of the boys all loving the music, the music itself, the fact that we were all together having a blast - its priceless and wonderful and makes life worth living.


Image result for do joyIn the coming days we shall all find ourselves in unusual situations.  We might be at home with people with whom we don't usually spend 24/7 .  We might be at work in places more deserted than usual or working from our garden shed or at different hours from normal.   Wherever we are and whatever we end up doing over the next few weeks God has not stopped being fun.  He hasn't lost His sense of humour and I'm sure He doesn't want us to either.  So let's keep our eyes open for moments of joy.  Let's use our social media time to spread some smiles instead of doom.  Let's use our TV time to watch things which make us laugh out loud.  It's good for your health to laugh.   If singing along to Beyonce makes you happy - do it.   Dig out that favourite feel-good novel and re-read it.  Go for a walk in the sunshine ( I promise there will be some sunshine at some point) and watch the birds.  If you can spot a squirrel so much the better - you can't watch a squirrel without smiling can you?  And listen for God's sense of humour as you read His word especially in the parables and some of the old testament stories.  Enjoy. And then share the joy you find.

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