The Things That Lie Dormant Are Not Lost

I was talking to a group of friends some years ago, and we were seeking to hear from God for one another, when one said to me, “You've got this wonderful sense of humor. Let that shine out more.”

In the movie of my life, I immediately cut to a flashback of a camping trip with my church, circa 2005. If I remember correctly, one of my friends was reading Bridget Jones’s Diary, and she asked a group of us, sitting around the campfire, “Do you think you're funny?” 

One of the group said a firm, “Yes,” without hesitation. We all agreed with her—she is one of the funniest people I’ve ever met. 

I said, “My mother says I'm witty.”

And this is true, too: my mother would say, “You’re so witty” to me on a regular basis, because I could always get her to laugh at one of my stories. 

The question-asker then said, “In this book it says that if you ask people, ‘Are you funny?’ and they say, ‘Well, my mother says I'm funny,’ then that's a good sign that they aren't funny.”

Oh, goodness! Cue the existential crisis! 

Is witty the same thing as funny? 

Does this quote apply to me or not?! 

So awkward! 

And so I shut down that side of me, and never thought to ask the Lord, Is that book correct? Should that quote be the final arbiter of my sense of humor?

But then, fifteen years later, in a different context, I had a friend say, “You've got this wonderful sense of humor. Let that shine out more.” 

The things which lie dormant are not lost. 

Lord God, is there something you would like to restore in my life?

If we sit with this for ten seconds in silence, maybe something comes to mind: word, picture, memory, song. 

And whether we heard something or not, let’s pray.

Lord God, thank you that “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” Thank you that you give good gifts to men. 

Lord, we are surrounded by stacks of gifts. For all the gifts that you have given—may we open them all. And then may we use them, not put them on a shelf to admire or ignore. 

We ask specifically, Lord, for any gift that has been broken or tarnished or mocked or despised: restore those gifts to us, Lord. Repair, re-shine, reverse the curse, renew in love. 

In the holy and precious name of Jesus, amen.

May we live for the praise of his glory,

Amy Joy

You are invited! Sign up for the Prayer Refresh, an email series with short prayers to pray as you go about your day. The first five readers all wrote me at different times and said, “This is changing my life.”