A Little Office Humor Goes a Long Way

I have always tried to incorporate a measure of humor in my business life. I can remember many stressful afternoons when nothing seemed to go right—and then someone said something that's witty and clever. If it didn't make me laugh, it at least made me smile. More importantly, I felt my shoulders relax, the frown on my face disappear, and my soul return to a somewhat normal disposition. I felt better about life in general. I'm not sure, but I suspect the folks in the office liked the new relaxed Steve a lot better too.

The Bible talks a lot about joy, but little about humor, at least in the sense that we think of humor. I feel confident that Jesus laughed. But we don't know for sure because the Bible is unclear on the point. I hear many folks claim laughter is mentioned both in the Old Testament and the New Testament—and it is, but not as a form of entertainment. I can't envision Moses telling Pharaoh jokes, or Simon Peter starting a sermon with, "A funny thing happened on the water the other day."

However, without a doubt, the Bible talks about joy. Proverbs 17:22 seems to be the best example and the one most often used: "A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones." In Galatians 5:22-23, Paul tells us that joy is one of the fruits of the spirit—"The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control."

Joy and laughter are gifts from God that help us refocus. Worry can make us paranoid and selfish, while joy and laughter encourage creativity. Stress drains our souls, while joy and laughter fill them. Joy never requires long periods of joke telling. It doesn't require a comedy script. In a crazy day of buzz-saw events, one witty statement can make us smile and put things in perspective. That's all it takes. Isn't that amazing?

I like to encourage laughter in the workplace. Our daily work can be serious business, and sometimes we demonstrate leadership by knowing when and how to break the tension of a hard day. But a little joy, a little laughter also remind us that our problems are only temporary. There will be something brighter in the future. In his book, Whistling in the Dark, Frederick Buechner writes: "'Blessed are you that weep now, for you shall laugh,' Jesus says. That means not just that you shall laugh when the time comes but that you can laugh a little even now in the midst of weeping because you know that the time is coming. All appearances to the contrary notwithstanding, the ending will be a happy ending. That is what the laughter is about. It is the laughter of faith."