The Other "F" Word

The Other “F” Word

No, I am not talking about a swear word. There are other words in the dictionary that start with the letter “F” besides the one you may be thinking. However, I do want to say a few words about that other “F” word: FUN!

Growing up in a large family, there were eight of us, we had a lot of fun. I have good memories of the times we spent playing and fighting with each other. We had a swimming pool in our back yard, making hot, summer days fun. Being the oldest was not always fun but I survived.

Looking back, I don’t remember ever being encouraged to make life fun. I do remember being told that life was hard, serious work that required discipline to survive. The nuns and priests taught us that our goal in life was to make God happy; that required sacrifice on our part. My seminary education reinforced the idea that fun was not part of a priest’s vocabulary.

You can only imagine what happened when I married Judy whose daily vocabulary is FUN. She made life fun by enjoying each day and finding fun things to do. For most of our married life I was caught up with trying to please God that resulted in making other people miserable. I finally came to the conclusion that I didn’t know how to have fun. I was a dull boy.

Well, my life has changed. About ten years ago, we met some friends who really liked to have fun. They did ordinary things in extraordinary ways. They enjoyed travel, fine wine and friends. I think they took me on as a project. Judy had no trouble getting into the swing of things but I did. I couldn’t seem to shake off the guilt every time I was having fun.

Although the word FUN isn’t in the Bible, the word HAPPY is. I kept running into this word and wondered if it could be true that God wanted me to be a happy camper. Slowly I began to realize that God does want me to be happy and have fun. Even at this advanced age, I am learning how to enjoy life because God does want me to have FUN.

The Bible says, “…trust in the Lord and you will be happy…”