In his book Dissident Discipleship, David Augsburger has a great chapter on humility. He approaches humility from a perspective I have never heard elaborated...he ties humor directly to humility (of course healthy humor). Listen to a couple of quotes along this line:
"A humble sense of humor shows us our own absurdities, reveals our own contradictions, as well as revealing the absurdities and contradictions of those around us. Humor will not keep us from all sin, but it is a significant deterrent. When we laugh at ourselves, the laughter is a kind of reverence, a kind of self-deprecation and truth appreciation that expresses acceptance and wonder. In practice it is a type of confession, a means of contrition; indeed an act of repentance."
Wow, have you ever heard humor described with spiritual meaning as this? This is not flippant theology, but really a deeply thought through concept of how God uses humor in our lives as a relief/release valve where we might otherwise blow up under the pressure. Here's another quote:
"What makes humor and humorous people humble? Humble humor takes life, death, faith, and human fallibility seriously--so seriously that it can laugh at our flawed and feeble efforts to transcend them. We laugh best--indeed, most deeply--in our struggles with those things we hold in utter reverence. We take ourselves, our work, our best efforts at justice and mercy so seriously that we can see their lighter side and feel the deep mirth of humble paradox and contradiction, and then explode in laughter."
When we are unable to laugh at our own flawed humanity we really don't understand the situation. Humor deflates our over-inflated sense of self-importance, and brings pride to its knees as we through laughter at our foibles and failures get a divine 'reality check'! Let me just end this blog with one more quote from the book where Augsburger quotes Haring:
"Humorless people are almost always hopelessly condemned to immaturity. Or should we say that immature people are condemned to a humorless existence."
Give yourself the chance to have a good laugh today...think about something stupid you did yesterday! I've already made my list!
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