Sometimes I act like a child, but is that such a bad thing? I have a playful heart and, at times, a joyful spirit. I think once we lose sight of the fun of life, we are setting ourselves up for misery. Life throws some curve balls at us on a daily basis and sometimes life is all about playing the game. Grab your bat and prepare for what is coming at you.
Embarrassment is part of life. It happens to me on a daily basis. I fall down, literally, and I get back up. I run into doors, poles, people, etc. I trip going up steps with hot beverages in my hand. It is what you do with these moments of embarrassment that matters. Maybe I have just become so used to the constant “fails” that are my life.
If you can’t laugh at yourself, then your life is going to be a long, stressful, dull essence that is lacking.
When I was in college, I was going to a new church with some friends. It was communion day (which is never comforting in a new church). It was much different than my traditional, old-school background. We passed grape juice and crackers, grabbing our own. After we partook in the communion (drinking the juice and eating the cracker), I looked around for somewhere to place the empty, thimble-cup and just as I realized there was no place for it, they began passing a velvet bag. “Oh. That is what we put the cups in,” my mind told me. So, in went my cup and I passed it on. My friend on my right followed my lead. As we did so, my friend on my left gasped, saying, “Jamie! That is for the offering!…” Hmmm. Guess I should have been watching. For an instant, I thought about taking the bag back and searching for my plastic thimble, but decided that may look bad. First, I throw my cup in the offering and then I appear like I am stealing money… that would go over real well (who passes an offering BAG anyway?).
Looking back, my cheeks still get a bit red at my lapse in judgment. I still ponder what the elders of the church thought when they emptied the smooth bags of their tithes and found two empty grape-juice, communion cups. Did they laugh? Were they annoyed, confused? That silly mistake had my friends giggling after church (and during). Like Elbert Hubbard’s quote goes on to say, “Don’t take life too seriously, you’ll never get out alive.” You really can’t be too concerned about your little moments of embarrassment. They make life more memorable.
I may not have contributed much of an offering that day in church, but what I gained from that experience has made me much richer and gave others a laugh. Sometimes our greatest offering comes from a place of silliness, childlike curiosity, and utter confusion.
Within my daily blunders, I try to remember that the moment will pass. Life will go on, whether I am ready for it to or not. I encourage you to do the same. Smile, laugh, move on. You are surely going to have another blooper anyway, which will leave this one in the past. Time doesn’t stand still just for your embarrassment, which is a good thing for many of us, or we would be standing still quite often.
When you mess up, fall down, spill your coffee, or put a communion cup in the offering bag, remember that these little mishaps make you who you are and that is something to be proud of.
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