God likes a comic attitude

By Julia Fernandes

October 19, 2011

"It is cheerful to God when you rejoice or laugh from the bottom of your heart." -- Martin Luther King Jr.

When I was around five or six years old my father had taken me and my brother to a wedding. This was the first time I was attending a wedding. The hosts seated us at a big, long table.The bridesmaid came around and distributed confetti to the guests. I happily took the colourful confetti in my palms and kept admiring the same.

I looked around and saw to my dismay that nobody was eating these colourful small balls. I looked at my dad; he too had just kept it in his hand. Finally, my will power caved in and I sneaked one ball in my mouth making sure nobody was looking at me. The rubbery taste made me realize that this was not something edible! Dad spotted me popping one ball and with a grin signaled me to remove it from my mouth.

Slowly, I cupped my mouth with my hanky and removed it. When the wedding march started while everybody was throwing the confetti, I was busy dusting the confetti from my sweaty, small palms. Till today, my family members pull my legs over this incident. I, too, join in their laughter.

We all make silly mistakes in our whole lives. What is important is finding humour in our own selves, in the situations around us and in the things that happen to us. I remember another incident while working for an IT media company. I wrote a story of how a software package enabled a company to improve its efficiency by 300%. The MD of my company found something amiss in the 300% statement and brought it to the notice of my copy editor who in turn asked me about it. Then I realized what the IT Head told me was wrong; it still remains one of my most hilarious mistakes. (That’s a different story that till today I could not understand the 300% funda...:)

Unlike others, I cherish all my mistakes and over the years I have learnt to find humour in all the silly things I say, do or speak. After all, it is these silly mistakes and gaffes that truly make me who I am. When we falter, we reveal one of the most endearing qualities of human nature.

Two days back my best friend and I were debating between ourselves who is worse in Maths. I told her, you can’t be as bad as I am. I had a handout of some insurance policy that contained maturity amounts of some schemes. She asked me to read the amount. The amount was something like -- Rs 10007456. I simply counted all the digits and confidently told my friend there are eight digits. She laughed and said, "No, Julia, there are 7 digits. How can you read the amount if you count even the first digit that is 1. That is not to be counted." With a smile she admitted, "Julia, I think I am little better than you in Maths."

Daily my nephew calls us up to wish us goodnight. Few days back he called me up in the night as usual and told me, "Julia, I am not going to call you up tonight to say goodnight coz I am feeling very sleepy!" When I put the phone down I began laughing. My sweet nephew calls me up in the night only to say that he is not going to say goodnight to me. Can a gaffe get any sweeter than this? Next day when he came over, I pulled his legs about his call. With an impish grin he buried his head under the pillow and started laughing.

The frailty, vulnerability, innocence and beauty of human nature are never more on display than when we falter and make silly mistakes. We feel funny but God finds us beautiful when we make mistakes. So, it is important to not belittle our own selves. The ability to see the funny side of things in any situation is a grace given to us by God. So, use your grace to the maximum possible limit for laughter turns all our imperfections into bliss and whether others like it or not, God loves a comic attitude...:)