Yes, this is about the kind of 'faith' you may hear about in church. Yet, often life's experiences are also brought to light. And in order to apply ourselves to the often difficult tasks, we bring our version of humor. I am going to begin with some version of some jokes I heard in church.

The first one applies to Mother's Day.

Matt and Charlene are happily married, and have three children ...one boy and two girls.

Matt had come from what he considered to be a very dysfunctional family.  Now, no family is perfect, but Matt felt that everyone should be able to accept each other ...with all their imperfections.  And nothing should get in the way of them attempting to spend time with each other ...short of incarceration, of course.  In that case, or as a result of a case ...they'd be spending time, or 'doing time' of a different nature.

Matt was one of six children.  There was a TV show entitled, 'Eight is Enough' ...but his own family was not quite as healthy nor successful with living a script to happy endings. 

Over the years, each one of his siblings, in their own time, had developed their own version of a grievance, in their own way ...towards either Dad or Mom.  It didn't matter whether it was birthdays, Thanksgiving, or Christmas ...Matt was the only one who'd show up at the old homestead on those occasions.

Matt was proud of the fact that his own children did not seem to have any severe coping mechanisms ...and for the most part they seemed happy and a close knit group.  But, perhaps it was still too early to tell ...as they were only between the ages of 9 and 13.

Mother's Day was coming up ...and it began to open those old emotional wounds, seeing how cold and unforgiving his own brothers and sisters had been at Mom's funeral less than a year ago.  Matt fought off the tears ...then resolved to come up with a plan that would teach their own children to approach life differently, and more healthy.

Matt waited until his wife left on an errand.  He then gathered the children together, saying, "Mother's Day is next Sunday ...so you have nearly a week to do this."

The oldest, Melissa, often wanted to ask questions that would otherwise had been answered if she'd just listen longer, "What do we have nearly a week to do?"

Matt smiles, "I was getting to that.  Do any of you know some things Mom would like?" 

The youngest, Denise, quickly answers, "Mom likes sunshine."

Matt smiles again, "Okay, but you can't buy sunshine ...just make sure you have sunshine in your smile for her.  I mean, like  ...do you know the type of flower she likes?"

Matt Jr. asserts himself, "I don't know, but I can find out."

Matt Sr. adds, "Okay, that's good, but try to find out without letting on why, because you want it to be a surprise. Here is a fancy vase I bought for her ...it can be your job to fill it."

Matt and Charlene were both pleasantly surprised, for on Sunday morning, there in the middle of the table was the vase ...filled to capacity.  And off to the side was a half empty bag of Gold Medal All-Purpose Flour.