I tend to be a person of even temperament but love to laugh.  Sometimes, this causes me to go on long binges of silliness.  When I was in my late teens or early twenties, a lady I worked with told me, “Randy, if ‘BS’ was music, you would be a brass band!” 

Never being one to “toot my own horn”, I must say that I earned that remark.  In fact, at the time, I took it as a sincere compliment.  Silly me!  I earned her back-handed “compliment” because I was always joking around and was seldom serious.

I’m certain that this part of my past comes as a complete shock to you!  That’s okay.  The shock usually wears off in an hour or two.

Conversely, for all of the kidding and joking around that I was known to frequently engage in, I was, and am, equally as guilty for taking others, and situations, very (if not too) seriously.  For instance, years ago my lovely first wife and I were shopping in a mall and we came across one of those cinnamon bun eateries.  We quickly yielded to the sticky temptation of those sinful rolls. 

As we were waiting in line, waiting to place our order, I noticed a sign hanging from the overhead menu board which read, “Would you believe ‘no calories’?”.  I turned to my wife and said, “Wow!  No calories! I’ll take TWO!” 

She looked at me with a look that was a cross between utter disbelief and sheer horror that I would be so stupid as to take the sign seriously.  I guess that wishful thinking severely clouded my ability to take what was obviously an attempt at humor and caused me to take it seriously.

The simple reality is that people tend to fall in the either the serious or silly camp in all areas of their lives. 

Think about it: whether it’s food, politics, the economy, health, or even religion, the subject is either heatedly debated or the butt of jokes.  Society today is more polarized than it has ever been in the history of this great country.  Either people feel that things are gloom and doom and deathly serious or they live a life of silliness and folly.  It’s as though no one has a balanced view of life and how to live it.

Case in point:  While attending a particular protestant church in Glendale, Arizona, many moons ago, I was often called upon to help serve the Communion elements to the congregation.  Whenever I helped serve during those solemn occasions, I found it interesting how people would act. 

One occasion, I came to the pew where some kids were sitting, among which was the teenage daughter of a retired minister who attended the church.  I was good friends with this girl and her family.  As I passed the plates that held the communion wafers and the little glasses of grape juice, she looked at both plates, looked up at me with a mock frown and whispered, “Yuck!  Flesh and blood again?  Can’t we have something different for a change?”

I moved along quickly, not wanting to be a collateral casualty when the lightning bolt from God struck her.

A few pews down, the elderly gentleman who, several years prior, organized how the sacraments were to be served was obviously upset.  The veins on his forehead were literally popping up in high profile ridges.  He glared up at me when I passed the plates.  I wondered what on earth was making him so mad.  I quickly found out.

Through gritted teeth he said, “The bread is served before the wine!  The bread is served before the wine!”  While I felt horrible that I was serving the elements in the wrong order (I had no idea there WAS such an order!), I honestly didn’t feel that it was worthy of the possible wrath of God that I thought was imminent just a couple of pews earlier.

The point that I’m trying to make is that, as in all things in life, there has to be balance.  An inspired writer once wrote that there is “a time to weep and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance . . .”.

Wisdom comes from knowing the sense of the times and acting accordingly.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to call a friend of mine and apologize about a joke I told him during a funeral we attended. 

Timing, Randy!  Timing!