Let’s consider the power of humor in times of crisis—times of sickness, danger, or anxious waiting. Humor is the ability to see, hear, or show the amusing side of things. You need all three of these to hem up, and for you to be able to handle, everything that comes at you in a crisis, a stressful situation, or perplexing problem.

How welcome are the genuine reasons for laughter when the going is tough! And how wonderful and refreshing are the lighter moments when you see, or you hear, or you show others something about the humor that punctuated the heaviness of  a crisis. The quicker we look for humor, the quicker we find it and the sooner we benefit from it.

A crisis may be one of the strongest verifications of the actual power of humor. Using humor in a crisis is far more valuable than only playing around with it in carefree times—because humor is one of the best things we have going for us in a crisis or any other time.

I discovered that humor also indicated to Rosalie and me that our crisis had past. That we could laugh again was a welcomed, and comforting sign.

Perhaps you have heard someone say, “Remember, at Christmas it’s the thought, not the gift that counts.” To that I say, “Baloney!” It seems to me, that dumb statement is another way of saying, “What I am giving you is not much, but it is enough to fulfill my obligation and get me off the hook.” I have noticed that this disclaimer never accompanies a real gift, such as a new car, or good football tickets, or a dozen steaming hot dogs.

When you give something that is good enough to be a real gift, you don’t have to say anything—the gift speaks for you.

It is the Gift that Counts!

I have received some wonderful gifts that needed no commentary. A good friend brought me a Christmas gift in a large box. It was ornately wrapped. His entire family brought it over. I couldn’t wait to open it, but if I had waited, it would not have spoiled—it was a can of antifreeze. A memorable gift! It wasn’t “the thought behind the gift,” it was the fun behind the gift that counted!

Another friend brought to a newly engaged couple’s wedding party a large box that required two men to place it on the gift table. The couple could hardly wait to open the obvious container of a television. When they opened the mystery gift, it was a case of 144 rolls of toilet paper. Bingo!

Have you ever received a hockey puck for Christmas? I did, right after Rosalie and I were married. For a “Florida boy,” that was a mysterious gift—because that was the first time I had been in the same state with a hockey puck. For a year, not one of my Southern friends could guess what it was.

My brother called to wish us well and asked, “Are you using your puck much these days?” I hesitated a long time. “Danny, are you there?” Since I didn’t know what it was, at first I didn’t know what he was asking. When he told me what my gift was I realized that he had given me my most mysterious (and for a Florida boy), most fascinating gift.

Do you prefer spirituality or humor? It is not necessary to choose one over the other. They do not always come together, but they always go together. Good spirituality produces good humor and the good-humored person experiences spirituality as a bonus on top of humor. You will not have one for long without having the other. If either lags behind, you will want to know why?

Spirituality equals life. Humor equals a slice of life. Each works best when operating within the same life at the same time. That is why we talk here about “spiritslaughing” as a way of thinking about the union of spirituality and humor. Our spirits have been given the capacity to laugh, and they can operate at full capacity only when enriched by the presence of humor. (Keep reading this statement until you get it!)

Our humor cannot be experienced, nor expressed, without the involvement of our spirit—because humor is profoundly, spirit-ual.

If we insist on having one without the other, we end up with neither. A spiritually-dead person—without a sense of humor—does not need to check their bags, because they are going nowhere, and no one wants to go with them.

We shall not be sorry if we assume for about a lifetime that our spirits are made to laugh!

Good humor is more than just humor that is funny—although I am not against funny humor. Humor ought to be fun to tell, which makes it fun to hear. Good, also means humor that is helpful, uplifting, and therapeutic to the human spirit.  Good humor has purity in its telling.  Good humor gives hilarity the power to heal!

“Loving God,
I want to share the gift of humor so others will laugh as you intended.
Amen.”

 Suggestions for You as a Humorist

 Review all of your notes and select eight or ten of your best (funniest) jokes or stories and list them for easy reference. Transfer the jokes or stories to 3 X 5′s for easier handling.

Then, consider doing any of the following:

• Practice reciting each before a mirror until you are pleased with your delivery.
• Set a goal of telling a “funny” three or four times or until you get it right.
• Continually add new entries to your collection.
• Volunteer to tell a funny story at Sunday school or in church.

Continue with these steps as you add to your list of “funnies.”

Hospitality Technician:
With so much free time in my retirement—and so much energy—I decided to get a job as a Hospitality Technician at our local Walmart. After checking into it, I upgraded myself and applied at a Walmart Super Center. It’s all the way across town, but worth the drive because I am well equipped to work in a Super Center.

The training has been rigorous: I have had to learn to do five things simultaneously, all at once:

Smile;
Raise my voice a complete octave;

Say, “Welcome to Walmart, Welcome to Walmart;”

Put a smiley face sticker on every visitor;

And give a big hug if I know the person.

The trick is to concentrate on getting all five done smoothly, as if the five were one motion. The challenge is to do all of these movements at the same time you are trying to decide if you know the person and will give them the big hug, If I don’t know the person, I constantly run the risk of getting slapped in the mouth when I try to hug.

One of the things I am good at is pointing people in the right direction in the store. If someone asks me where something is, I point my whole arm while holding my palm down with all five fingers extended wide open. I say, “You will find that right over there.” My five fingers give them five directions to choose, which they seem to appreciate!

The one thing I am not completely checked out on yet is putting “smiley face stickers” on people while not breaking eye contact. It’s okay, if it’s a man, but you have to be really careful where you put a sticker on the front of a woman. If you discover that you put it on her in the wrong spot, it is a “no no” to go back an try to unstuck it, so you can stick it on again!

(Note: We first met the “One-arm Fiddler” on June 10.)

When I bumped into the One-arm Fiddler I had never seen him look better! I wondered why he had such a big smile! Then I noticed that he had his fiddle and bow with him. Standing right there in public he broke it out and began playing one of the songs he has written—“How Can I Miss You When You Won’t Go Away?” When he began to play the fiddle and sing, he gathered a crowd, right quick-like! After his first song they applauded.

He then played another song he had written: “When The Phone Don’t Ring—You’ll Know It’s Me.” The crowd had grown and they cheered! I asked if he had another. He said, “You’ve prob ably heard this one: “I Was Feelin’ Single, Seein’ Double, And Ended Up In A Whole Lots Of Trouble!”  I think my favorite was, “If You Don’t Leave Me Alone, I’ll Find Someone Who Will.”

I thought the crowd would go wild!

When I greeted a “spiritual Bud” of mine, we took a few minutes to exchange funny stories, as is our custom. After I told him mine he was laughing while telling his. It was a little racist, and I began to cringe about half way through. He laughed at the punch line, but I only chuckled, lightly.

My “Bud” is a Christian, through and through. He is like one of the upper vertebra in the backbone of our church. It was remarkable that right at the threshold of his consciousness lay a slightly racist—funny, but racist—story that popped into his mind.

I asked, “Will you come to our Sunday school class next Sunday and tell us that story?” His laughter ended quickly. There was no longer even a fragment of a smile. He became solemn and said, “No, I don’t think I’ll do that.” After standing there for a few seconds, he said, “See ya!” I said, “See ya!”

Perhaps many of us have stories and jokes in our humor files that we do not, or cannot, tell in Sunday school.

Good humor is profoundly spiritual! How profound it is when a person recognizes humor as a Spiritual Gift and makes spiritual humor a part of one’s lifestyle. That is done one person at a time! Ultimately, it is done when anyone can pray “The Prayer to the Holy Spirit” (reprinted here) as a cleansing preparation to receive the spiritual gift of humor:
“Come, Holy Spirit, purify the thoughts of my mind and the words of my mouth.
God, give me the spiritual gift of humor so my spirit can laugh with your Spirit.
Loving God, Show me how to share the gift of humor so others may laugh like you intended.
Amen.”

We have the choice between DARK humor de-LIGHT-ful humor. DARK and LIGHT are totally opposite. They are so vastly different that we will likely not accidentally discriminate between them. Deliberate determination is demanded if we wish to choose the LIGHT and forsake the DARKness.

Bad humor is clutter of the worst kind. Check your personal humor files to see if house-cleaning is needed. Here is a plan for how you can delete inappropriate humor (if any) that comes to mind and replace it with appropriate humor.

The Goal: weed-out inappropriate humor so you may substitute appropriate humor, and you can also pray the prayer, “God, give me the spiritual gift of humor . . .”

The Plan: Deletions and Substitutions

• Begin by making a list of inappropriate jokes you wish to delete…
• Now list good jokes to be substituted…
• Week-by-week eliminate at least one entry of dark humor you are ready to give up.
• Now replace with the inappropriate joke you just deleted with one of the appropriate jokes you have on your list.
• Work also on deleting the inappropriate humor from your memory by praying the “purifying” portion of “The Prayer to the Holy Spirit”—“Purify the thoughts of my mind and the words of my mouth.”
• Continue the process of listing additional inappropriate jokes so you can make the exchange to quality jokes.

For almost a quarter of a century I traveled extensively across our church. One of my favorite (and most popular) stories was about a guy who bought a suit that was too large for him. (This is only part of the story.) Those who had heard it always called for it. This time when I told it people laughed heartily as usual, and I continued with my presentation. At the break a lady came to me and said, “People laughed at your story, but I was hurt by it. My brother was handicapped and walked like the man in your story.” I felt terrible! I not only apologized, I promised I would never tell it again. (That was one of my best stories—but it had to go!)

Remain committed to refreshing your humor, one story at a time!

There is a reason why the “Cleaning Up Our Humor” posts will be shorter than usual. It will give you time to go beyond simply reading and begin to actually work with these posts. This subject probably need the attention of many of us.

In order to receive the spiritual gift of humor, we need to clean up our humor. (How can we receive a spiritual gift when we are cluttered with profane, racist, sick, vulgar, or dark humor?) Consider making a list of your dark humor (if any) and week-by-week, eliminate at least one entry of dark humor you are ready to give up by praying the “Prayer to the Holy Spirit.”
“Come, Holy Spirit, purify the thoughts of my mind and the words of my mouth.
God, give me the spiritual gift of humor so my spirit can laugh with your Spirit.
Loving God, Show me how to share the gift of humor so others may laugh like you intended.
Amen.”

INAPROPRIATE HUMOR: Humor that is sick, hurtful, sexist, profane, racist, sharp, vulgar, cutting, crude, vindictive, insensitive, ridiculing, demeaning, and tawdry does the teller and the hearer a disservice.

“. . . PURIFY THE THOUGHTS OF MY MIND AND THE WORDS OF MY MOUTH.” You are invited to “think back” over the past month to remember when inappropriate humor was used. “Think back” about who you were with at the time and where you were. It will be unusual if you cannot come up with several instances of dark humor during an entire month. Jot down as many instances as you can, by whatever “code names” (to protect the guilty) you give them.