Fun, Fun, Fun

Psalm 126:1-6
From September 4, 2005

Girls just wanna have fun. So screeched Cyndi Lauper in the 1980s. Well, duh. Doesn’t everyone?

OK, I do know some people who seem to want to go through life fun-free. Few smiles and little laughter punctuate their daily living. Everything is life-or-death. The slightest annoyance becomes equivalent to a capital offense. Somehow, upon making the transition to adulthood, they neglected to pack their pockets with a little bit of childhood for later snacking.

Me, I am probably too much the opposite. I prefer free fun. It doesn’t have to massive expensive fun, like roller coasters at Cedar Point or nice dinners out. I love those, but it can be just Freschetta frozen supreme pizza and a Bogart movie. Or the Marx Brothers.

Life, sadly, is not fun and games 24/7. It is not always even always fun first. Isn’t that what our parents tried to teach us? Chores first, then play. No TV until the homework is done.

That is kind of what today’s verses brought back to my little brain. Verse five says that, “Those who sow in tears shall reap in joy.” I have heard this verse applied to productively sharing the Gospel but with school beginning recently my thoughts turned to an educational model.

Middle school is not quite as fun as those early elementary years. I know this because I have been there and am there vicariously now as the parent of a middle-schooler. There is more thinking involved on a higher level. The challenges are more daunting…and relentless. Multiple teachers, no longer exclusively females, for multiple subjects, each thinking theirs is the only class for which you have homework. The word “advanced” now precedes math, foretelling such abominable horrors as algebra and trigonometry. (You may have surmised that I was not president of the math club, as my coworker Stacie has also self-diagnosed.) One comes to the realization that Kindergarten is over.

That is not to say that fun must evaporate with age. It may be delayed, however. As we (well, some of us) mature, we swap some Fun in exchange for Rewarding. It is fun to receive straight As; it is rewarding to study. It is fun to shop; it is rewarding to save and invest. It is fun to play and win; it is rewarding to practice. It is fun to pig out; it is rewarding to work out. It is fun to receive a paycheck; it is rewarding to go to work.

Fun is great. I love it! I believe it is a gift from God to help reduce stress and maintain some semblance of sanity and balance in life. Being fun-focused, however, may throw us out of balance by taking our eyes off the future.

Endure, even embrace, the toil of today that will reward you with a harvest of joy and happiness and fun tomorrow.