Quite some time back Irene Baker, a long term missionary in the New Guinea highlands, recounted to me a story about her young house maid who was chuckling animatedly. It turned out that every time her housemaid had put the folded clothes in their drawers, the Holy Spirit would push the drawer open again and again causing her to break out into peals of laughter. “The Holy Spirit. Him funny man, Mama.”
Irene explained that she regularly saw the uninhibited highlanders tapping into a part of God’s personality that we westerners haven’t been particularly open to.
I had a glimpse of this side of God once when I was hanging the washing outside on the rotary clothesline (an iconic Australian institution). A butcherbird was serenading me with what I would refer to as his “Man from U.N.C.L.E” theme song when he started to impressively mimic the songs of the birds in the surrounding open farmlands, a cause for wonder. Laughingly I called out to him to imitate a whipbird, a bird found nowhere near his territory in that part of greater Sydney. Immediately he produced a clear whipbird song, complete with the crack of the whip at the end. I laughed aloud and told God that He was remarkable!
Why am I telling you this?
I am wanting you to get to know our wonderful God. Get involved with Him. Listen to His voice. Let Him bless you with hearing His voice whisper in your ear. He has such a fun-loving personality that will positively delight you. Enjoy the preposterous animals in His creation. Enjoy the absurd colour combinations in flowers and birds. Laugh at the silly antics of insects. Be awed at the ruthless games that female spiders play with their nervous male suitors. The more you know Him, the more you will love Him.
“Praise the Lord, my soul. Lord my God, you are very great; you are clothed with splendor and majesty.
The birds of the sky nest by the waters; they sing among the branches. All creatures look to you to give them their food at the proper time. When you give it to them, they gather it up; when you open your hand, they are satisfied with good things. May the glory of the Lord endure forever; may the Lord rejoice in his works— I will sing to the Lord all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live. May my meditation be pleasing to him, as I rejoice in the Lord” (Psa. 104 NIV abridged).