3-28-22 HEART & HUMOR

Yesterday morning I received this text from my teenage grandson:

How often do you get such deep questions via text? I toyed with writing an elaborate and deeply profound response, but opted instead to move quickly and succinctly, asking the Holy Ghost to guide me:

I worried a little that he might be in a rough place emotionally. Then I got this response:

I was reminded how much I love the combination of heart and humor. 

I love deep and meaningful thought based on spiritual matters. But it sometimes gets so heavy to me, and a little humor always seems to lift the weight of it to a bearable measure.

When the world as we knew it screeched to a halt, two years ago this month, we all went into crisis mode. At least we did in my part of the world. We were cut off from our work, our family, our friends. If we ventured out to get supplies, the streets were eerily empty. Even the skies, devoid of air traffic, were silent. There was an undercurrent of fear everywhere. We worried we might die or, even worse, the people we love might die. Then, when we could not find Clorox, or toilet paper, or our sports fix on tv, we thought maybe death might not be the worst thing that could happen.

We started working from home. I taught guitar virtually in our family room, and Dave held virtual court in another. Isolation was the common thread that, ironically, connected all of us.

Most difficult for me was not seeing my family. So, I decided to record a little video every day on my smart phone: a scripture and a joke sent out to my family. My thinking was that I needed my kids to see my face. I wanted them to see we were alive and well and getting through this, without waxing too philosophical. We had enough heavy in our heads. I figured a scripture and a joke was a nice balance of yin and yang. That combined with the sound of their grandmother’s voice was solid evidence she was breathing would provide a little calm, and a bit of comic relief. I mean, just seeing my face and what frock I was wearing that day had to provide some humor.

Yup, pretty much every day in the heart of the pandemic,
I sent a joke and a scripture to my grandkids.
My kids and siblings got them, too.

I want to remember how healthy it was for me to see crises with a regular dose of the Lord's Word, served up with a side dish of clean humor.

Here, as a reminder, is a scripture and joke just for today:

"Fear not little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the Kingdom." Luke 12:32

(Don't you just love how he refers to us as his little flock?)

Now, a couple short jokes:

Q: What did the buffalo say when his son left for college?

A: Bison

Today at the bank an old lady asked me to check her balance, so I pushed her over.