Do you find that life is far too serious and intense so that moments of joy and fun are few and far between? Take a moment and discover two simple ways to bring life into its proper focus.

My wife must receive credit for the phrase that is the title to this article. A number of years ago when our priorities were so misdirected, we found that enjoyment and laughter had ceased to be an integral part of our daily living. We had permitted the complexities of life to control our every move, robbing us of mirth and merriment. Upon creating this simple phrase, we conducted an in-depth self-examination and chose to restructure our existence to deliberately include enjoyment and levity. That’s one of the serious problems of life in our world today – there is no time for fun, fellowship and frivolity that makes the heart full of peace, joy and love.

As a young man in high school and early university, I worked in a hardware store. This was what I would call an “old fashioned” hardware store with wooden floors that I swept daily with a sweeping compound. Most of the display shelving was hand-made and painted in rather unattractive green, yellow and blue pastels of the day. Items were primarily sold in open or bulk quantities and plastic packaging was virtually non-existent. Panes of single and double strength glass were cut to size and installed at the store using glazing compound. Screen wire was cut and installed in screen window inserts. The cash register was a NCR antique even then and had the melodic “cha-ching” when it was opened. The register didn’t reveal how much change to return to the customer – you had to do the subtraction yourself. Grass seed and nails were sold by the pound and not by the bag. Customers were waited on without being asked by the customer to do so and sales personnel actually knew information about the products sold in the store.

There was one additional aspect of that past that is missing from today’s culture. The ingredient was the fact that employees and customers spent time together beyond the transaction conducted. I recall the old wooden bar stools with the torn and taped vinyl seats that stood close to the register counter. Here the employees and the customers would “sit for a spell” and “shoot the breeze.” Here the news and weather were reviewed with intimate detail and jokes and anecdotes were shared followed by laughter that seemed to shake the paint cans on the nearby shelving. Relationships and friendships were established and renewed each time the customer would return. Sometimes they didn’t come to make a purchase but to just “fellowship.”

One of the most touching “characters” that came into the store on a regular basis was an elderly gentleman by the name of Rufus Mobley. A diminutive figure in physical appearance, he was at least eighty years of age when we first met. He was a full-time landscaper whose usual purchases included peat moss, grass seed, cow manure, mulch, lawn fertilizer and weed killer. When Rufus came in, he immediately sat his crippled and aged frame on one of the stools and would instantly begin to “hold court.” After he announced what supplies he needed and they had been secured and loaded onto his trailer, he would proceed to reveal a new composite of delightful and humorous “clean” jokes that elicited rounds of laughter every time. In addition he had an ability to tease and be teased – all in good fun that everyone in the store enjoyed. When Rufus came in to the store, it was a brief respite from the demands of the day that reminded us that relationships were more important than the seriousness of business.

I distinctly remember the lone time Rufus came into the store and appeared to be distressed and somewhat discouraged. When the store’s owner asked him what was wrong, Rufus replied that he had a most disconcerting experience after church services the previous day. Some of the Deacons of his church had approached him and asked to meet with him following the time of worship. In the privacy of the Pastor’s office he was quizzed as to why he felt it necessary to always be telling jokes and humorous stories coupled with the teasing that was interwoven into his contact with people. One Deacon went so far as to ask Rufus if he knew any place in the Bible where it is recorded that Jesus laughed.

Rufus thought for a moment and then responded to the Deacon with words that should cause any mind to pause and reflect, “I don’t know if Jesus laughed or not but I do know that He sure fixed me up so I could.” Words that convey more truth could not have been more beautifully spoken. We do take life too seriously and our culture has forgotten that joy is a simple and free commodity that adds to life while most other aspects of our living take life away. Rufus had it right and most of us have it so wrong.

There are two distinct things that can help us from taking life too seriously. The first is the need to take time for fun. We need to laugh, do something silly or mindless, tell a joke and lovingly tease with and be teased by others. In the midst of a serious moment, we need know that it’s okay to say something humorous to “break the ice” of the moment. We have made life far too serious and we need to stop taking it so seriously. Those of us who are my age recall the proverbial statement that “All work and no play make Jack a dull boy.” It was never about Jack’s personality being boring but about the fact that Jack couldn’t take time to enjoy life. We need to stop and “smell the roses” and drink the joy of the senses God has given us.

In order to do this, we must make the commitment to build time into our daily routines that permits us to take fragments of time to enjoy. We need to know we will actually be more productive if we are willing to take time to enjoy a moment, have a little fun with someone, do something a little silly or even out of character or even stand outside and engage our physical senses.

Second, we need to take time to be in relationship with others. When God gave us His list of priorities for our lives, He designed it that our relationship with Him would be first, our spouse would be second, our children third, and all else to follow. Fellowship is a key ingredient to putting the seriousness of life in its proper perspective. When we take time to develop relationships through fellowship, we become less serious and the enjoyment of time together feeds our souls. We need time to step away from the seriousness of life and rest our minds, our spirits and our bodies. One of the best ways to do this is to spend simple time with others with no real agenda in mind.

It reminds me of a passage in the 23rd Psalm of the Bible that tells us that God wants us to rest from the seriousness of life and be restored. Psalm 23:2-3a reads as follows: “He (God) makes me lie down in fresh, tender green pastures; He leads me beside the still and restful waters. He refreshes and restores my life – my self” (Amplified Bible). We need to schedule time with our spouse, our children and others to simply get away to do something fun and possibly mindless. And, we need to do it without a sense of guilt – it’s really all right to “feed” our mental health.

Is life to serious for you? Then it’s time to take it less seriously. Schedule time to enjoy life and enjoy fellowship relationships. Let these experiences help you find the refreshment and restoration God desires to help you enjoy each day as if it might be your last.

©2006 Mel Menker

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