On this day in 1751 Edward Willet displayed the first trained monkey act in the United States.

Have you ever seen a trained monkey act? They’re pretty hard to find these days. But maybe you’ve seen the monkeys in a zoo. If so, you know they can be very funny racing around, making weird sounds and faces, and even showing off for the crowd. No wonder we use the expression “monkeying around.” Or maybe you’ve heard someone say, “That’s more fun than a barrel of monkeys.” Or how about—”Monkey see; monkey do”? That refers to the habit of monkeys to copy the actions of humans. Obviously, no one takes monkeys very seriously.

Some people act like monkeys, though. They like to have a good time and always seem to be messing around and goofing off. And they enjoy making fun of everything and everyone. The problem, however, is that no one takes them seriously either. Even if they try to be serious, we think they’re making a joke.

Our passage for today points out that in life we have a time for everything, even a “time to laugh” and a “time to dance.” But our laughing and cutting up should be done at the right time, not all the time. The Bible also says we have a time to be serious, “to cry” and “to grieve.”

We laugh at the wrong time when we joke about God, his Word, and his people, or when we make fun of painful situations, and when we take lightly serious matters. God wants us to enjoy life to the full, to have “abundant life.” But he also wants us to be very serious about what is important.

So have a blast—laugh, joke, sing, and celebrate. But at the right time.

Seriously.

There is a time for everything, a season for every activity under heaven. . . . A time to cry and a time to laugh. A time to grieve and a time to dance (Ecclesiastes 3:1, 4).

To Do

This week, notice how many of the jokes on television make fun of other people, laughing at their problems, and putting them down. Work hard at not using that kind of humor.

Also on this day . . .

1841—Famous French painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir was born.

1983—The final episode of M*A*S*H* aired. This was the most watched television program in history.

From Betsy Schmitt and Dave Veerman, 365 Trivia Twist Devotions: An Almanac of Fun Facts and Spiritual Truth for Every Day of the Year (Cincinnati: Standard, 2005). Scripture quotations are from the New Living Translation unless otherwise noted.