This weekend I went to church not knowing we were having a
guest speaker. Guest speaker/Nationally known comedian, Michael Jr. He’s a hilarious
father of 5 who draws on his life growing up with a reading disability. His reading
disability resulted in him dissecting words in about 7 different ways to find
their meaning even though he couldn’t “read” the word in the traditional sense.
This ability to find 7 different view-points propelled him in to a life of
comedy being able to use those same angles to find humor in the everyday life,
where the rest of us may see nothing- an example being when he was working with
the writing team for the Jay Leno show. They were working on that week’s
segments and working on new stories and resultant punchlines. A NFL star had
received an eye injury when a flag was thrown on the play and the flag hit him
in the eye. He sued the league for millions of dollars because he lost vision in
that eye. When the team wanted to write about that law suit and the millions he
would make but couldn’t come up with the punch line, Michael Jr. popped right
in and said “he won’t see the half of it!”
Maybe you had to be there, but it was hilarious and most of us wouldn’t
have found the humor in it.
He finds the humor in the mundane, and he uses that to reach
audiences around the world and advocate for experiencing the life you were
given, be it a reading disability, an abusive past, a miscarriage, or an
addiction, and sharing that story so that God can repurpose it in the lives of
others, not to grow the glory of you, but the glory of He. He says every story deserves
to be heard. Well, I left that evening
no longer feeling guilty for finding humor in a mastectomy (or anything else so crazy
in life as well). Experience life, laugh
at it, and share your story for what it is. I find the humor in mastectomy because
God created me to see humor and greatness in the mundane.
The timing of this evening watching Michael Jr. was perfect
as I was feeling a little down about this coming week. Down may not be the most ideal word. Instead, picture
an owner carrying a long haired mud caked cat into the master bathroom towards
a garden bathtub full of soap suds and water. Said feline puts one leg on each
lip of the tub, arching his back up as far as it goes, teeth glaring, hisses
flying, all in a futile effort to delay the dunk that awaits his fate. He uses every ounce of energy to suspend
himself over the shallow pool of soapy defeat. Remove cat, insert Sally and you have a similar
portrait of my current portfolio. I was
just “not all that in to” this fifth mastectomy related surgery. So, Mr. Surgery, I hope that didn’t hurt your
feelings. Can’t we just call it quits and amicably go our separate ways?
I still want to go my separate way, but after hearing
Michael’s encouragement to embrace life as it comes and then later this evening
hearing Francis Chan talk about how each event is just a moment, a 3 second millisecond
blip, in this eternity, I find myself better able to take this in stride. We
have been purposed for every single individual day. I’m trying to take this next surgery for what
it is, accept it as another notch on this mastectomy rope, and go back to
finding laughter, at times uncontrollable laughter, in the humor of mastectomy boobs.
Let this moment just be a purposed moment and find laughter and fun in that and
tell my story. I mean really, I now have
boob #1 and boob 2.2 and perfectly designed pair of imposters. Not many people
get to claim a 2.2 for a body part. Or knowing I will soon have a new abstract
relic seared forever on boob #1. What used to be a single vertical incision
will now be joined with the addition of an equally as terrific horizontal twin transforming
the boring ole scar line into a stellar work of perpendicular abstract art. Unfortunately,
it’s art no one will ever see (or fortunately in my case), but it is hilarious
art all the same. I can actually, unlike many others, find laughter in
that!
Come Thursday when I head into that operating room, I must
ask how was this day to be purposed? What did He intend for it? I’m pretty sure
it’s not for me to be all worked up with every single piece of “fur” on end,
claws out gripping the tub’s edge, and hissing along the way as I approach the
soap suds. I don’t know what it is exactly, but likely not that. After an
insightful week of being in the right place at the right time and then reading
the right words when I very much needed them, I am working to keep the
frustration of another surgery in check and be reminded that this is a single moment
that was purposed to be something in this story that someone just may need to
hear. I don’t have to understand it, that is key for me to know that I don't have to understand everything, but I have to trust my role in it.
“When I am consumed by my problems – stressed out about my
life, my family, my job (my surgery) - I actually convey the belief that I
think the circumstances are more important than God’s commands to always
rejoice. In other words, that I have the ‘right’ to disobey God because of the
magnitude of my responsibilities. ” - Francis Chan
www.crazylovebook.com
www.crazylovebook.com
