Welcome to my latest Blog series…Memoirs of an Empty Nester! Both of our children are off at college and my wife and I find ourselves back in the dating scene. To each other obviously. During this time, I find myself learning new life lessons each day and I want to share. I came up with the idea of covering this topic based on an innocent question my son asked me before he left for school.

“Dad, now that I’m leaving and it’s just going to be you and mom…who’s going to laugh at your jokes?”

He was sincere in his inquiry. He was legitimately worried that my five-star humor would be lost on an audience of only his mother. And he was right. Joke after joke, one-liner after one-liner, pun after pun, amusing anecdote after amusing anecdote…they all fell on deaf ears. And this made for some very quiet nights around the house.

Then, during my Bible study one morning, I discovered the solution to my problem. I Corinthians 9:22 jumped off the page at me. “I have become all things to all people.” To put this into context, the apostle Paul was talking about adapting his style to reach all people when preaching salvation. Paul had a very distinct calling that he took extremely seriously. Now, I’m certainly not comparing Paul laying out the plan of salvation to me trying to pop off a few cheap jokes, but the concept that Paul was describing is similar. Paul had no problem changing his style or his approach to reach others. He wasn’t adapting his style for his own benefit, but for the sake of others.

This is where I was convicted. I was not adapting my joke-telling to match my new audience. Of course my wife was not going to find funny the same jokes as an 18-year-old boy. I needed to change my approach. And I needed to do so because I cared about my audience more than myself. Was it more important for me to feel validated as being funny? Or was it more important to see my wife genuinely smile and to hear her belly-laugh? When I realized the answer was the latter, it was easy to change my style to suit her taste. Now, nobody is going to be comparing our home to Caroline’s on Broadway anytime soon, but it’s nice to have a house filled with laughter again, especially since we’re down to half the inhabitants we used to have.

So there you have it. For all my fellow empty nesters out there, or anyone who may be in a relationship rut, remember to always be willing to adapt your style for the good for your significant other. You’re bound to find a new lease on love, life, and my favorite…laughs!