I’m Way Too Serious
Something I read the other day in a passage written by Richard Foster struck me as important. He wrote, “It is an occupational hazard of religious people to take life (and themselves) far too seriously.” This is very true of me. What I have trouble with is figuring out how other people can take life so lightly! I can’t help being serious when I consider my world.
- Today, in a meeting at my work we spent a great deal of time talking about families who live in hopelessness. They have children suffering from severe emotional disturbances and don’t have access to the services they need. That’s serious!
- I got an email yesterday from the Enough Project updating me on the atrocities still taking place in the Darfur region of Sudan. Thousands are being killed. That’s serious!
- A friend of mine who has been battling cancer for years, and is battling it again. That’s serious!
- Someone I love very dearly seems to be loosing his battle with substance abuse. That’s serious!
- My wife and are attending a seminar called Family to Family sponsored by the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI). This week members of the group had an opportunity to tell their heart-breaking stories of loved ones who because of their mental illness have been homeless, incarcerated, or worse. Families have been destroyed and marriages broken apart because of the diseases. That’s serious!
How can anyone not take life seriously? Yet Foster’s words struck home to me because I’ve also been taught all my life that Christians are supposed to be people of joy and celebration. For the most part, however, I approach life with varied shades of somber. I rarely dance or sing. I’m not sure I know how to laugh–I’m talking here of that deep belly laugh I envy in others.
Yes, I think part of my reservedness is some kind of genetic or environmentally learned disposition. But it is more than that. It is also a preoccupation with the hurting and my inability to provide lasting relief. As you can imagine, I am susceptible to depression and can honestly say I’ve never been the life of any party.
The truth of Foster’s words sting. He goes on to say, “‘Be not anxious’ is the way we are to deal with all of life’s seriousness.” It helps for me to trust God with all these issues knowing that God is far more powerful than I. It also helps me, and I’m still learning this skill, to remove myself from the situation in a way that I can look at and laugh at it’s absurdity. Okay, maybe I don’t laugh. I smile or I chuckle quietly. But I’m learning to laugh at my life and all that occurs around me.
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