Are We Having Fun Yet?

By Lynn Ludwick

My small group leader handed out assignments, asking one person to break a habit, another to accomplish a task. As a goal-oriented list maker, I waited, my pen poised. When she reached me, however, she spoke only two words. “Have fun.” That’s it? My stomach clenched.

I later called my sister. “How do I have fun?” I pleaded.

“I can’t believe you’d find that difficult.” Bewilderment filled her voice.

She was right. Fun might well be my middle name—or at least it used to be. Throughout my childhood, Mom and I sparred. She thought life was hard work, I thought it should be fun. Combining our philosophies, I worked hard at having fun.

So what had happened? I still laugh at a joke and even toss out a few of my own, but my spontaneity was gone. Life had become a chore, the hard work Mom predicted. Over the last several decades life had slammed hard. Each crisis and more-than-difficult circumstance took its toll, until my days were more about survival than enjoyment. Although life has now settled and I’ve regained my equilibrium, this assignment still threw me for a loop.

How could I have fun? After days of pondering, I dug out Gone With the Wind, a video still in its factory wrap, given me by my sons in the 1990’s. I’d been saving it for a special time. So I declared a particular evening A Special Time, made a latté, grabbed some cashews and Kleenex, and wrapped in a quilt. Four hours later, teary-eyed and sniffling, I wondered why I’d waited so long. (And yes, sad movies can be fun—it’s a girl thing.)

My leader recognized that my life, all our lives, would hit rough patches. She saw fun as an antidote, a way to fight the poison of despair. “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.” Proverbs 13:12 I think enjoyment deferred also makes the heart sick. God mentions that…“A cheerful heat is good medicine.” Proverbs 17:22

So I’m now penciling fun into my weekly agenda. While scheduling contradicts spontaneity, changing a habit is often a stilted procedure. With time, ideas will come more easily. My grandchildren will be good resources. On a rainless August afternoon when Noah was four, we trekked my neighborhood with raised umbrellas and searched for elephants. We found none, of course, but we laughed a lot. And the tea party I’ve contemplated for my daughter and her friend, and their two little girls? I just need to find my stash of hats and gloves.

Simple, inexpensive ideas—a beginning. But now it’s time to plan this week’s fun.

“…until that day, the Israelites had not celebrated it like this. And their joy was very great.” Nehemiah 8:17

Lynn Ludwick writes from Medford, Oregon. lynniegirl45@hotmail.com