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David's Sense of Humor |
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 "The ability to laugh at yourself and your own silly mistakes is a great asset, and helps keep you humble." |
David maintained that God has a rich sense of
humor, and that therefore His children should be like-minded. David certainly was. What
impressed many people who knew him personally was his ability to not take himself too
seriously and to have a good laugh when the occasion warranted it. He wrote: "I can remember some of the happiest times of my childhood were spent around the dinner table, just sitting there listening to the old folks talk, telling stories and cracking jokes! I guess that's where I got a lot of mine! I don't think there's hardly any subject I can't tell a joke on! That's what comes from living with preachers all my life!" [154] "As sober-minded as my mother was about serious things, including God's business, she kept us roaring at her absent-mindedness, and used it as a vehicle to glorify God, showing how God could use anything, even her! How about you? -- And me? Aren't we funny? We're a real laugh, let's face it! If it weren't for God, we'd be one big joke, and a hell of a mess! … A sense of humor is a great asset in life! Humor is enjoying the contrast between the way things are and the way they ought to be, and being able to laugh about it, when it's not too serious!" [155] "We all need a good sense of humor! 'A merry heart doeth good like a medicine!' God created us with a sense of humor and the ability to laugh at things that are funny. So I'm sure He Himself has a sense of humor, especially when I look at some of the things and people He has created and the funny situations He lets them get into. "There is such a thing as being too serious and too sober about some things and taking yourself too seriously! The ability to laugh at yourself and your own silly mistakes is a great asset, and helps keep you humble. He who can't laugh at his own mistakes or take the mistakes of others with a sense of humor either has too much pride or too severe a sense of life." [156] Even in his death, David's sense of humor was remembered. Maria's daughter, Techi (who was 15 years old at the time), was present when he passed on. In a written account of the event, she commented: "When it looked like Grandpa was leaving us and we all gathered in his room to pray for him, Mommy prayed that the Lord would bring him back if it was His will. But I didn't feel he was going to return; he just looked so peaceful, and you could tell he was somewhere else much better. "I must confess, though, that a part of me was thinking that Grandpa would open his eyes at any second, and say, 'Ha! Fooled you! Really had you going there for a while, didn't I?' I'd never seen a dead body before, either, so it was a different experience. But it would have been just like sweet Grandpa, always a fighter till the end, to do something like that! -- To sit up and rise from the dead, like he's virtually done before when so sick." |
