Just Have Fun...

Someone just told me this. Just have fun. And, the person has said this to me more than once, so something must make them think I need to hear it. This instantly makes me feel like the tightly wound yearbook committee president in every teen movie. The seemingly insignificant phrase sets off a whole whirly-derby for the over thinking Christian Academic in me.

The thing is, I used to be fun. So fun that my youth minister always had to tell me to calm down and stop being so fun because it made the group more difficult to control. So fun that the university Resident Director had to list out the fun things I’d done the year before and tell the freshmen not to do them. (All legal, of course. Honest. Just creative, if you will).

But, somehow along my way to 2009 I’ve become a bit of a fuddy-duddy. To the point that the mere suggestion of fun makes me have an internal argument over whether or not it would be “ok.”

I spent last week in New Orleans and was discussing their culture with a former New Orleanian co-worker this week. He said every time he goes back he realizes how uptight we are in Alabama, and I have to agree. Now, I’m certainly not suggesting more public drunkenness and prostitution; although, a few more street performers may not be so bad. I’m just suggesting not taking ourselves quite so seriously at all times.

Just “having fun” doesn’t mean you have to go get wasted. It doesn’t mean you have to compromise your values or your witness. It doesn’t mean you have to be somebody else. It doesn’t even mean you have to be irresponsible, superficial, or self-serving. It’s about not calculating who you are in every moment in order to be all everyone expects/wants/needs you to be. It’s about having…fun. It’s about no longer wasting the energy it takes to keep up the façade. Taking a deep breath and not being sooo serious for just a second.

It’s about the fact that Jesus came that we may have life, and have it more abundantly (John 10:10). It’s that whole thing about considering the lilies of the field and how they grow and don’t stress out all the time about what they look like (Matthew 6:28).

I am still fun in some ways. I still greet my office assistant with jazz hands every morning. Still get the occasional happy meal. Still crack up at myself. I would still be doing cartwheels if my body-weight to arm-strength ratio weren’t quite so off. I’m still me, and becoming more so. Returning to myself, if you will. I’ve even worn a pink pigtail wig in public. With a feather boa.

As I look over, I see the Dove Promises message I’ve tacked to my desk wall. It says “Don’t think about it so much.” I think that’s really what this was all about.