This may sound like a ridiculous topic to write about. Having fun should come natural right? Well, for some of us (me included), it’s not so easy. For those of you who are like me and need some guidance on how to let loose and enjoy yourself, here’s some thoughts I picked up recently that may help.
God is not opposed to us enjoying ourselves.
Right out of the gate, let me expose a lie that may hold us back from having fun. God is not a stick in the mud. He loves uninhibited enjoyment of His relationships with each of us, and He loves to see us enjoy our relationships with each other. We all too often view Him as only wanting us to be hard at work for Him all the time. Instead, He guides us into being who He created us to be, enjoying the gifts and talents He has given us as we share them with each other. Yes, we can most definitely have fun being in Christ and loving each other…and He is very pleased with that!
To really let loose, we must be spontaneous.
This one is a hard one for me. I like having a plan. It makes me feel safe and secure (I have issues that we won’t discuss here today). However, to really have fun, I must give into spontaneity. It’s hard, if not impossible, to be moved emotionally through a rigorous step-by-step process that I’ve meticulously planned all by myself. I always know what’s coming…or at least what I want to have happen. However, my plans get messed up so much that they often lead to frustration rather than fulfillment or pleasure. When I find myself following along with someone like my son, who’d rather burn a map than follow one, I smile and laugh a lot easier and frequently. I mention this because, for someone like me, it’s good to engage friends who are NOT like me in order to have some fun. It may appear exhausting and stressful to surrender my plans for a while and really let go, but it’s a requirement if I want to experience some fun in my life.
We cannot have fun with suffocating masks on our faces.
Perhaps one of the biggest inhibitors to having fun is trying to please other people. The human race is notorious for our masks. Many of us are bent towards impressing others and/or trying to keep them happy. We can often catch ourselves not really being our true selves. Instead, we try to be what we think others want us to be. Guess what. There’s no fun in that…not at all. Instead, it is exhausting and leads to frustration (possibly even all-out anger and depression when our efforts to please others fails). In the book of 2 Samuel, King David was having a good time as he danced in the streets when the Ark of the Covenant was finally returned to Jerusalem. His wife scolded him and basically told him his behavior was unacceptable. Instead of allowing her opinion to dampen his mood, he chose to embrace the truth that his celebration was pleasing to the Lord. He just continued dancing and having fun. As Neil Anderson says, “It is a lot more fun pleasing the Lord than trying to please people”.
-Neil
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