Thursday, July 22, 2010

lightening up!

Fun was my theme for today. Does every day have a theme? Maybe. I like the Fun Theme. On a whim I posted a goofy pic of myself as my Facebook profile. It's a silly one, but then I've always been happy to be known as a bit silly and goofy. That is, until I started letting all the serious details and important issues of my life commandeer my crazy gene. Being the perfectionist that I am I allowed simple everyday fun to be sucked out of my everyday! Oh, I'd have moments when I'd let down and laugh at something I found fun--and often it was with someone who isn't necessarily driven by perfectionist tendencies, like my friend, LB.

I wanna be her when I grow up. OK, maybe it's a little late for the growing up part. I'm pretty grown up at nearly 58 yrs old. And she is many years younger than I am but who says I can't learn something from someone much younger than I? A wise former pastor of mine believed we learn something from EVERYONE we meet. Well, I wanna learn to be less perfectionistic (because it's just not happening for me) and not so intense about the details working out exactly as I'd like them to work out. That's my friend, LB. She has this laid back, coastal, beachy attitude going on--like she's relaxing on vacation--most of the time! I just hope some of it rubs off on me.

Anyway, she and I filmed a commercial promoting the photography contest in our magazine and we were a little silly with it. OK, we were a lot silly with it and we had a BLAST doing it. Then JB, the young man who filmed our commercial, saw my fun photo and said I should go ahead and post it. I guess all I needed was some encouragement and I was off and running with my goofy mood which continued on today with the evidence of my fun profile pic.

After my initial post, I got to read all the crazy posts my friends and family left for me! I loved them :) They were having fun too! After my hairstylist foiled my head all up with prospective gorgeous blonde highlights, I decided everyone would love to see a continuation of my day so I asked Wendy to snap a pic of me in all my aluminum glory with my same expression, which I immediately posted. None of this was done secretly in the beauty salon. The whole place was in on the fun. The caption for the second pic was from the stylist in the next chair. Everyone in the place was enjoying my little explosion onto the internet for all the "world to see." And there were more great fun comments from one and all! My daughter, Amy, wrote some of the best ones :) I have chuckled to myself several times over what I did today. I wasn't embarrassed. I had fun and because I allowed myself to be seen as I really was feeling in the moment, several others had fun too.

Have you ever considered the people and their personalities that the Lord puts into your life? Had LB not lightened me up yesterday and had I not had the encouragement of a younger person, I would not have made myself vulnerable and open to be laughed with or laughed at and all of my friends and family would not have had that light, humorous moment! Life is terribly hard and complicated at times and if all we concentrate on is on perfecting the details and making sure everything is done 'correctly,' it is easy to skim over all the light moments as though they don't count. But--they DO count! We need this comic relief. We need snickers and chuckles and guffaws and hee haws!

The Lord made us with our sense of humor. It's there for a purpose and I think when we let loose of our control of all the details and laugh, truly laugh, at something or someone in a good natured way, I think the Lord laughs with us. It's kinda like on the funniest videos tv shows when the babies laugh unreservedly and we can't help but laugh with them! I think God laughs with us.

"And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life?" Matthew 6:27

All those important but pesky details will be taken care of by the Lord. I won't change anything about them by worrying and I won't take away any of their importance by lightening up on the concentration of them.

Note to self: LIGHTEN UP, SUZ!

Father, thank you for the fun day today! I had a blast and i'm looking forward to having many more fun days with the delightful people you've put into my life. I'm grateful for each one. Please help me learn something positive from everyone I meet. I love you, Jesus. I can't wait for tomorrow with You.
Suz


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