It's been snowing a lot in Illinois lately and the cold has me thinking of new and creative ways to keep warm without sending my electric bill through the roof. Luckily, it's not that hard to heat my small apartment but it is quite drafty. I've found a friend in weather stripping, but I'm still spending most of my time walking around the apartment with a blanket wrapped around me. I try and keep the thermostat under 70, but it turns out that's a lot easier said than done when I hate the cold.
When I was a little kid, I was a morning person. I'm not so much a morning person anymore, but I remember getting up early all the time when I was little. It'd be about 5 or 6 in the morning and I'd hear the heating vent come on in the winter time and I'd race out of my room with my comforter in one hand and a collection of toys in the other. I'd scurry down the hall to the kitchen where I'd sit on the floor with my blanket cacooned around me and I'd play there in front of the heater. Now, don't get me wrong. Each room had a heating vent and it wasn't like my parents were forcing us kids to sleep with icicles hanging over our heads. I honestly can't tell you if I was actually cold or not, but there was something exciting about sitting in front of that heating vent on the floor in the early morning hours. It was comforting. It was like this whole new world opened up that only came to life when everyone else was sleeping.
Sometimes my brother would wake up too, but not usually. Usually first thing in the morning, it was just me. Then I'd have to fight for my place by the heater during the day when it came on if we weren't in school. Being the oldest (and yes, I was a bratty big sister), I usually won.
I remember what it was like to play. I remember all the games of pretend my brother and I would play in the backyard, the crazy characters and stories we'd come up with. There were times our entire backyard was this other world and we'd pretend parts of the backyard were actually underground and we'd climb through bushes like we were going through a wardrobe into Narnia. At one point, we had our own brand of super heros because we decided that the Power Rangers were too limited in their abilities. We didn't want to fight; we wanted to explore. We'd explore our backyard like we had never seen it before and we had a blast.
My parents were great about playing with us. My dad is kind of a big kid himself, and he'd play space ship with us on the equipment at the park and we'd walk through the neighborhood playing "Elephant Hunt" (see that crack in the sidewalk? An elephant has been here! We must be getting close!). Play was important in my family growing up. For most of my childhood, we didn't have cable and we never had the video games, so we played outside a LOT. I feel so blessed to have grown up in a household that encouraged play.
As adults, we don't play much. We spend a lot of time working and worrying about how we're going to provide for ourselves and our families, and we forget to play. If you have kids, it's a little easier because having kids, at least while they're young and want to play, you are sort of encouraged to play. When they grow up, though, your opportunities for play become fewer and farther between. Sure, I play video games, but it's not the same. I'm not making story lines up; I'm following a story line that has been pre-selected for my mission.
There was a meeting at the church the other night and I happened to be in the office. One of the members at the meeting has two little kids (the oldest is about three, the youngest is 18 months). The kids like to come in my office when I'm here during the meeting (if I'm here, of course) and they play. I have some toys in my office for when kids are here. I have dominos, which they really get a kick out of. I also have a Veggietales play dough set, which the older child has really taken an interest in. So we got that out the other night and we made some fun creations. It was a joy just to sit with these little kids and play. How often do we as adults who don't have kids -- especially if we're pastors -- get to play?
In my quest to simplify my life, I want to take more opportunities to play and practice being child-like. God calls us to be children of God, and if we don't play -- if we don't find reasons to laugh with ourselves and find humor in the world through play -- we can't accept that calling.
This week I challenge you to find ways to play. And I don't mean putting on a video game or a movie. I mean actually play. Play with figurines, dolls, legos, blocks...something you used to play with as a kid. If you have a friend that has kids, ask if you can babysit while she or he goes to do errands. And then sit with the kids and play. Make up fantastical worlds and stories and characters. It's amazing how much less stress and anxiety you feel when you just forget about the real world and play.
I'm not saying the real world will go away if you play, because it won't. But I guarentee you that if you make a conscious effort to play it will help you see humor where you never saw it before. It will help you see the world with new eyes and maybe, if we start looking at the world with new eyes, we'll find ways to live more simply and make a difference.
Yours in Christ,
Pastor Becki
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