Being able to laugh at ourselves
Isaiah 6:1-2
In the year King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a
high and lofty throne, with the train of his garment filling the temple.
Seraphim were stationed above; each of them had six wings: with two they veiled
their faces, with two they veiled their feet, and with two they hovered aloft.
Today I
turn 45 years old, and if there’s anything I've learned in the last 4 and a
half decades, it’s to be able to laugh at myself. It’s like the Ella Wheeler Wilcox poem,
“Laugh, and the world laughs with you; Weep, and you weep alone.” Now, I couldn't always laugh at myself; I
used to take myself far too seriously.
Do you know what I do when I start thinking I’m right and the rest of
the world is wrong? I pull out my 8th
grade graduation picture from 1983. I
was adamant about wearing this baby blue tuxedo with these blue and white
frills on the front. Remember
those? The most hideous thing you've
ever seen, but I thought I was hot stuff.
And I laugh at myself. Then I ask
myself: what are the “blue frills” in my life today? In other words, what are the things that I
think or I feel or I am convinced about that make me believe I'm hot
stuff? 30 years from now I’ll look back
and laugh at myself. And I laugh at the
metaphorical "blue frills" I still wear in 2014.
The first
reading today is from Isaiah 6, and describes the great vocation of Isaiah as a
prophet. But right in the middle of this
dramatic scene is a little humor. The
seraphic angels – the highest and mightiest of all angels – use their wings to
cover their faces, their feet and to hover aloft. That scene always makes me think of those 3
wise monkey who with their hands cover their eyes, their ears and their
mouths. To me, those angels and monkey
mean one thing: don’t take myself too seriously. That is, don’t put too much stock in what I
see, and what I hear, and what I think and what I feel. God alone is thrice holy, and in comparison
to him, my thoughts and feelings are about as serious as blue frills on a
graduation tuxedo.
For the
longest time my favorite Shakespearean plays were always the sober and somber
ones, like Othello, and Hamlet, King Lear and Romeo and Juliet. Those characters takes themselves so
seriously and their lives are so tragic.
Gravitas. And to be sure there is
a lot of truth in those plays. But now
I’m learning to appreciate the comedies, too, like Midsummer Night’s Dream and
As You Like It, and especially Much Ado About Nothing. In these plays, all the people and plot and
purpose are about as serious as blue frills on a tuxedo. All those characters learn to laugh at themselves,
and Shakespeare invites us to do the same.
Today ask
yourself: what are the things I take dead seriously? Some people say today, what are you willing
to fall on a sword for? Of course, we
should take our faith and our family and our friends very seriously. But we should never take ourselves too
seriously. We should be able to laugh
heartily at ourselves. If you’re having
trouble doing that, just pull out YOUR 8th grade graduation picture!
Praised be
Jesus Christ!
No comments:
Post a Comment