Whimsy

Recently read a book by Bob Goff called Love Does and really enjoyed reading about the process that led the author from practicing law with a side of volunteering to making that volunteerism his focus. I’m sure that my own rather similar path (albeit for different reasons) is part of the reason his prose impacted me outside of the fact that he’s a gifted storyteller with a wry sense of humor. My standard for what I read these days has gotten a lot higher and I devoured this book in one sitting.

One of the quotes that caused me to stop and think a bit more was this one:

“What whimsy means to me is a combination of the “do” part of faith along with doing something worth doing.”

As I am a bit of a wordsmith, this use of whimsy caught my eye as this interpretation isn’t what I expecting — so, of course, I looked up the definition.

capricious humor or disposition; extravagant, fanciful, or excessively playful expression: a play with lots of whimsy.

https://www.dictionary.com/browse/whimsy

I think the use of this word (and I’m sure the author knows much better than I) is that it is important to bring humor and play and fun to the application of faith. It is not always a serious or urgently focused endeavor, or doesn’t have to be. At least this is what I have taken away from his discussion. I also really liked how the author involved his entire family and their ideas in how they applied their faith as a family. I’m taking notes as to how to do this with my own children as we know more is caught than taught.

As my own faith has been impacted by my diagnosis of MBC in 2017, a lot of what I struggled with in my faith before my diagnosis became clearer to me as I look backwards, hindsight being 20/20. My upbringing was within an organization that was focused on evangelism and seeking to fulfill the Biblical commission to change the world. Faith required application. And I think that’s a big part of why this book made an impact on me.

I firmly believe that having faith or beliefs requires boots on the ground, it requires action, preferably with some whimsy in the mix.