How much fun is too much?

If you don’t have any fun in life, what is the purpose? I know life is more than just having fun, but there is a place for fun in our daily lives.
Everyone has their idea of what fun is, and we don’t always agree on that. Take, for example, The Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage has an entirely different idea of fun than her husband.
What I consider to be fun, she doesn’t like at all. What she considers fun, I don’t understand at all. But there are quite a few times that we have had fun together. I should really write them down so that I don’t forget them. The next time we have fun together, I’m going to make a note.
As for me, I get things confused, and sometimes I say the wrong word. Everybody is guilty of that at some time. But when I do it, I get into some really deep trouble.
Last week, for instance, we went to the mall together. We don’t often do that because I really don’t like the mall. When I go to the mall, I like to go to the coffee shop, get some coffee and let The Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage do all the shopping.
This week we went together, and just as we got into the mall, we encountered some friends of ours that we haven’t seen for a while. I always enjoy catching up with friends and having a little fun together.
He and I drifted away from my wife and his wife. I’m not quite sure what the ladies were talking about, but then I wouldn’t understand it anyway, even if I had heard it.
My friend was a little obsessed with his wife buying purses all the time. He never called them purses; he called them bags.
“I don’t understand,” he said to me, “why women need so many of these bags. Why can’t they be satisfied with just one.”
Then he went on describing all of those “bags” his wife had at home.
“I can bet that she’s going to buy another bag today here at the mall,” he said with a little bit of sarcasm. We laughed together because we both knew what he was talking about.
I then pointed over to my wife and said, “Look at that lovely bag over there.”
I didn’t realize that I used the wrong word. My friend always called a purse a bag, and so I followed along with him. I wanted him to see the nice purse my wife had. But, when I said, “Look at that lovely bag over there,” I got into so much trouble that I don’t know if I’m out of it today. As usual, my wife heard every word that I said, and she looked at me with one of her looks and both hands on her hips.
That alone convinced me I was in for some trouble. My fun time had evolved into “I’m in trouble time”. I didn’t say what she heard me say but what she heard me say is what I said. How I’m going to get out of this is beyond my pay scale.
Sometimes when we’re having fun, people hear us say something, but they interpret it in the opposite direction. There’s something about words that can really get you into trouble.
I like to have fun and enjoy pulling friends into the experience, but I need to know where to draw the line. And after all of these years of matrimonial bliss, I don’t know where to draw the line.
I stared at my friend for a moment, and he began to smile because he knew that I was in trouble.
“Well,” he said to me, “my wife and I need to get going.” And they walked away, leaving me with The Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage and the trouble I was in.
The way she looked at me, I knew I had come to the end of having fun that day. Nothing I could say or do could ever undo what I said.
As we walked out of the mall to our vehicle, I tried to think of something to say that would make up for my blunder. Even though I work with words all the time I could not come up with the right words to use at this time.
As we drove home in the Sissy Van, she was very quiet and focused solely on driving. I, on the other hand, was focused on being quiet. There’s a time to speak and a time to be quiet. As a veteran husband, I am still learning when it’s time to be quiet.
I’m not going to give up on having fun, I’m just going to try to be more delicate in the fun I choose at the time. That will not be easy, but sometimes you have to pay for the fun that you have.
As I was thinking through this I couldn’t help but think of a special Bible verse.
“Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise: and he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding” (Proverbs 17:28).
When I open my mouth people can see what a fool I am. If I keep my mouth shut I hide all that foolishness. My new goal is to show a smile with my mouth and keep my mouth shut.

Dr. James L. Snyder lives in Ocala, FL with the Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage. Telephone 1-352-216-3025, e-mail jamessnyder51@gmail.com, website www.jamessnyderministries.com.