Awkward!

Proverbs 17:22 (KJV)  A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.

Though I did not watch the television presentation of the Academy Awards, I heard that there was an extremely awkward moment at the end of the program when a movie was announced as winning the year’s Best Picture award. The producers and others representing the film came to the stage to begin receiving their awards when it was announced that the wrong picture had been announced. It turned out that the winners were not really the winners. So… the (real) winners felt awkward. The losers who thought they were winners felt awkward. The producers of the television program felt awkward. And the audience felt awkward.

When I was in college I was responsible for doing a ten minute presentation in a chapel service. With about 1200 students and faculty watching, I had the lights dimmed and the audio recording started. When I went to advance the first slide – this was a literal slide in a tray of photos in a slide projector – nothing happened on the screen. I kept pushing  the button and nothing happened. A spotlight came on… on me… on the stage in the dark auditorium. As I kept pushing I’m sure the red flush on my face kept rising and the hotter I felt. It turned out that after my run through practice the night before no one had returned the slide tray to starting point. So the morning of my presentation it was loading nothing but blanks. What a mess! What a failure the whole thing was. People were very kind, but that event was a ten on the “awkward scale” for me. My experience proved that awkward situations typically move quickly to embarrassment and even shame.

Sarah and I had an awkward experience in the office a few weeks ago. We were taking delivery of a new photocopier/printer for the church office and receiving an orientation on how to use it. Unexpectedly, a representative of the company that serviced our previous copier showed up to pick up some left over supplies. We felt like the company that “lost” our business had received an “in your face” moment that we certainly did not want to give them. We believe we have made a good business decision, but that moment was pretty uncomfortable… and unexpected. But it’s one we could laugh at afterwards. As I can about my college experience.

Hopefully, the response of laughter can be at the end of most of our awkward situations. That will be unlikely if we take ourselves too seriously, however. Our pride can leave us mortified if we think we’ve been made to look bad – whether by someone else or by ourselves. Humor can be a great diffuser. As a pretty serious person, I have had a hard time learning that over my lifetime. At my ordination service one of my seminary professors told me, “Scott, don’t take yourself too seriously.” He knew me pretty well. The more seriously we take ourselves (in a prideful way), the harder it is on us to make a mistake and/or worry about looking bad. I think humble people are able to laugh at themselves without fear of looking bad, and thus they are much happier. The more serious we are, the tougher our experience of awkward moments. Of course, that doesn’t mean I favor inappropriate humor on sober occasions. As Solomon wrote, there is a time for everything, and there are people who use humor almost as a defense or as a way to avoid serious things.

God can redeem awkward moments. He does it often through our apologies and our forgiveness, as well as giving us eyes to see the humor in a situation when it is there. Perhaps He can even use them to aid us in learning humility. If so, even an awkward moment He can use for our good. Yahoo News reported the following story last November. It’s a great example of how something good can come out of an awkward situation…

Dialing the wrong phone number can be awkward, embarrassing, and sometimes downright frustrating. When a young man forgot to notify his grandmother of a change in his cell phone number before Thanksgiving, however, the result was touching. Wanda Dench texted a number that had originally been her grandson's, inviting him over for a Thanksgiving meal. Instead of her grandson, the text went to 17 year-old Jamal Hinton.  The two figured out the mistake quickly, but Hinton asked if it was possible to "still get a plate." In grandmotherly fashion, Dench responded, "Of course you can. That's what grandmas do." The story went viral online, perhaps as a hint of joy during such a bitter election season. When asked about the encounter after Thanksgiving, the young man said, "I'm thankful for all the nice people in the world. I never met her … and she welcomed me into her house, so that shows me how great of a person she is."

Ecclesiastes 3:1-4 (NIV) ¹  There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: ²  a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, ³  a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, ⁴  a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance,…

Romans 8:28 (NIV)  And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

PRAYER:  Father, bring me to a place where I can find joy in you even in the awkward moments of life. Thank you that they do not keep you from working and, fact, are things through you can work in amazing ways. In Jesus’ name. AMEN.”

Jesus Christ is Lord!    

Scott