Putting the fun back…
Putting the ‘fun’ back in dysfunctional
by John Fischer
I have a friend who wrote me about a fridge magnet she put on display for her family. It reads: "Let’s put the ‘fun’ back in dysfunctional."
Now, I happen to know this lady is separated from her husband and trading kids back and forth between them, so when she says “dysfunctional,” you have the idea she knows what she’s talking about.
Well, what could possibly be fun about her situation? Not much, maybe, but I hope she can find something, because it would be awful to be so enslaved by your circumstances that it is impossible to find any “fun” in your “dysfunction.”
Right now I am dealing with a particular piece of bad news that is threatening to get a grip around my heart and render it incapable of believing. Some of you woke up depressed this morning. What could be fun about that? I happen to know that one of our readers is shuttling devotionals to prisoners on death row through contacts she maintained from her own incarceration. Can you possibly imagine what these men and women wake up to every morning? Point is: If God can’t meet us in the middle of whatever bad news we are in, then he can’t meet most of us, and we are all in big trouble.
So here is some “fun” you might want to put in the middle of your “dysfunctional” life:
There is nothing too big for God to handle. (Matthew 19:26)
There is nothing too bad for him to forgive. (1 John 1:9)
The forces that threaten to steal your life and your future are puny compared to his awesome power. (Romans 8:38-39)
He could change your fortunes in a day if he wanted to. (Daniel 2:21)
If he doesn’t, there’s a good reason why. (Proverbs 16:9)
He not only loves you, he is delighted with you despite all your dysfunctions, and revels in every moment you spend with him. (Song of Solomon 2:10-13)
He knows your sorrow. He remembers that you are dust, and collects all your tears in a bottle. (Psalm 103:14; Psalm 56:8)
He will give you strength and courage for whatever you may yet have to go through. (Romans 8:31)
Someday, from your mansion in heaven, you will look back on this day and smile, because you will realize that your light and momentary troubles were achieving for you an eternal glory that far outweighs them all in comparison. (2 Corinthians 4:17-18)
There. Think you can manage a smile? This “fun” stuff isn’t just wishful thinking. It is real, and it exists in spite of everything around us. Kind of like the “fun” in dysfunctional that I bet you didn’t even know was there until now.
