Look for the Funny

Sometimes when I think my face is merely at rest, my expression is serious enough that I convey unfriendliness or that I’m upset or even angry. This is so annoying. When I told my mother that a coworker had informed me of this trait, she revealed that she’d had the same problem in her workplace. What an inheritance! I’d much rather contribute to fun and laughter in the lives of others.

A boss I had once even felt the need to tell a group of colleagues, “Jean seems serious much of the time, but she’s actually quite funny.” I was so grateful he said that, giving me some cover, but those who didn’t know me well probably still had their doubts whenever they saw me striding through the hallways, mentally sorting out my job’s challenge de jour. (Don’t get me started on meetings!)

I can still be all life is serious business too often (and not just on my face), and that’s when I need to go looking for the funny in life. Proverbs 15:13 (NIV) says, “A happy heart makes the face cheerful.”

Did Jesus Find the Funny?

The Bible doesn’t tell us Jesus ever outright laughed, but I find it hard to believe that he didn’t. Maybe when he talked about planks in people’s eyes, he was serious about the message but also fighting a smile as he envisioned what that condition would look like in reality. Perhaps when he said it would be hard for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, he had to suppress a little grin at the image he’d produced to coach a few people into spiritual awareness. Maybe he thought Zacchaeus up in that tree was a funny sight but didn’t want to hurt his feelings with a chuckle; Zach already had a lot to contend with, and he needed some love.

Jesus’s message and mission were of great import, and the word serious seems inadequate for the Savior of the world. But he was also human as well as God, and how can we be fun loving if he isn’t? I suspect there’s laughter in the heavens at some of our funny antics—not at our expense, but at God’s delight.

Here’s where I’ve found some funny. If you don’t think my examples are hilarious, that’s okay. My sense of humor can be odd and subtle, and sometimes you had to be there. You’ll just have to seek out the funny in your own way.

Funny Families

Although it sounds cliché, one of the reasons I love my husband is that he makes me laugh. “So,” he said one evening out of the blue, “I’ve been thinking a lot about pizza lately.” I laughed off and on for the next half hour. The next day we ordered pizza.

Children and grandchildren are a terrific source of laughter. We installed a walk-in shower in one of our bathrooms, and our five-year-old grandson said, “Your bathtub isn’t very deep.”

Laughs with Friends

A friend and I were driving back to our town on a main thoroughfare. When we got behind a slow-moving contraption that was refreshing paint lines on the road, we decided to take some back roads to get around it. (Here in middle Indiana, we have plenty of cornfield-lined country roads to choose from.) We drove east and then north and then west again, sure we’d be ahead of that unhurried machinery when we got back to the main road. We were ahead of it all right—and behind a second contraption performing the very same task! To the back roads we went once more, laughing most of the way.

Back in the dark ages, some women friends and I went to see the movie Somewhere in Time. Some of us knew the film was a tearjerker with a tragic ending, but we failed to mention that to everyone in the group. We couldn’t help but laugh when, on our way out of the theater, one woman shakily accused us of friendship malpractice: “You call that entertainment?”

Entertaining Entertainment

Speaking of entertainment, I recently watched the movie Oceans 8. A woman who intends to pull off a jewel robbery solicits help from criminals she knew before she was in prison. She visits the suburban home of a former fence, who insists she’s given up felonious life. Not believing this for a second, the leader asks her how she explains the multiples of brand-new goods in her garage to her husband. Her answer? “I tell him eBay.”

Seriously, get yourself on a streaming network and watch films like Arsenic and Old Lace or The Bachelor and the Bobby Soxer with Cary Grant. I consider him one of the comic geniuses of the twentieth century, and most of the comedy comes through on his handsome face. Many of the comedic films from the 1940s and 1950s have some of the snappiest and funniest dialogue and scenes ever put on film.

If you know I’m a reader and an editor, you won’t be surprised to find me mentioning books. One of my best memories of my dad is watching him read the deep-sea-fishing scene from one of the Mitford series of books. Let’s just say that Tim, the main character, has a rough time when the fishing boat starts rolling about in the ocean waves. Dad laughed and laughed. Bless author Jan Karon for infusing her books with humor as well as heartfelt drama.

I’m also an aspiring novelist myself. What am I working on (and on and on and on)? A cozy mystery with two funny ladies as my heroines. They aren’t even real people, but their antics make me happy!

If you live in an area where the month of March is still winter gray and cold, look for the funny. If you’re facing challenges, look for the funny as much as possible. Find all the funny you can, making your heart happy so your face will be cheerful for everyone you encounter. That’s a trait worth developing.

Jean Kavich Bloom is a champion coffee drinker and a freelance editor and writer for Christian publishers and ministries. She doesn’t garden, bake, or knit, but insists playing Scrabble is exactly the same thing. Jean and her husband, Cal, live in central Indiana. They have three children (plus two who married in) and five grandchildren. She blogs at bloominwordstoo.blogspot.com.

Photograph © Thought Catalog, used with permission