The God who Chortles
In mortal terms, a father is someone who went from thinking it would be fun to gleefully and dangerously blow up stuff with his friends to thinking it would be fun to gleefully and a little less dangerously blow up stuff with his kids and his friends.
Mortal fathers, by natural design, have a lot of fun with their kids in the rough and tumble.
God is the Father.
God’s worked with me in a particularly daddish way. I almost feel like I am getting pranked sometimes. When I am being a particular goof, I seem to sense something like divine amusement.
Two evenings ago in an exalted mood I wrote an exhortation for my gentile friends, to pray, hear, and act; pray, hear, and act. It was heady stuff. It was awesome, if I say so myself.
I suddenly felt very serious. I prayed. “Lord, what should I be doing?”
He answered immediately.
You should go to bed..
Cue divine dad-joke laughter.
I went to bed.
You might say that is just the condescension of God, Him working with me in a mode I can understand. You bet. But I think it is more than that. I believe in the God who Weeps. I also believe in the God who Chortles.
Related,
the Divine Character Includes Humor
Annie
March 4, 2021
This reminds me of the way Jesus of Nazareth is depicted in the TV series The Chosen. It is sometimes startling, and disconcerting, to see him in such a fully human way, along side his fully divine power and authority. To see or feel a God and His Son, who weeps, and chortles, and shouts and pokes at us, as needed, is to see and feel their love for us and their perfect understanding of us.
G.
March 4, 2021
Well said
E.C.
March 4, 2021
Fun fact: when I was tiny, I conflated my Eldest Brother with my eldest brother, away on a mission – the one I vaguely remembered giving me ‘flight training’ (spinning me around until we were both dizzy); who played pranks on everyone, always in good fun and for maximum effect; and who let me play with his beloved Lego train sets when I wandered into his room far past my bedtime. I always felt safe and happy with him around, you see, and I’m still not entirely sure that my feelings weren’t meant to be a kind of divine homing instinct.
G.
March 5, 2021
I think it’s deliberate that God puts people in our path who are much greater than we are but whose greatness is contained enough that we can comprehend it. They are our step ladders.
Marilyn
March 14, 2021
And this is not the first time, is it? I seem to remember you receiving that same direction from the Lord before: go to bed! It must be something you need to hear from time to time 🙂
G.
March 15, 2021
You are right!
It doesn’t happen very often, only when I am very serious and earnest and set myself down for a bout of Enos late night soul searching