Every evening when I arrive home from the office, I am greeted by Lucy, our five-year-old Labrador. When she sees my car pull up the drive, she jumps off her bench, sprints all the way around the house, and greets me in front of the garage, often with her rubber ball in tow, ready to play. Lucy is the picture of playfulness.
Today I'm thinking about playfulness as an antedote to seriousness. I've been struck recently, as I've listened to the news and read several articles on the web, about just how serious our nation seems right now. Granted, we have lots of reasons for concern. The news from Wall Street is really important. There's an election coming in which we will make significant decision about leadership. The war on terror is real. These are highly charged times.
It seems to me, though, that when we become anxious, we tend to become very, very serious. The jaw tightens, the eyebrow becomes furrowed, the shoulders become tense. Our reactions to the events around us become more and more reactive. We tend to lose our creativity, plowing right in to 'fight' or 'flight' as the only available responses to our challenges. I'm speaking autobiographically now: I am absolutely certain that when I am overly anxious and serious (those two things go together, at least in my experience), my ability to respond creatively to challenges around me is significantly diminished.
Enter playfulness. One of the church fathers was asked what substance God made the world from and he responded (playfully, I think) that God made the world out of "play." When I'm playful, sharing in God's joy, I'm able to respond more creatively to challenges around me; I can keep more options open, take myself a whole lot less seriously. By 'playful,' I don't necessarily mean the act of playing games. We've all been part of game playing events that were overly serious. Just watch an NFL coach pacing the sidelines to see how serious someone can be while 'playing' a game. Genuine playfulness, on the other hand, is the ability to reamain creative, to not take yourself too seriously, to laugh at your own limitations and foibles. It's the ability to remain somewhat relaxed and non-anxious, even while others around you may be getting overly serious. It's the ability to see the lighter side of things, to keep your sense of humor, to think and brainstorm when you're tempted simply to react.
When Paul listed the 'fruit of the Spirit' in his letter to the Galatians, the fruit in our lives that is formed when we cooperate with the gift of the Holy Spirit who abides in us, he described it this way: "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience kindness, gentleness and self-control." I am struck as I look at those words at how playful many of them are. When we cooperate with the Spirit, we know what it is to be loved and to love, to experience joy and peace... Can you hear how playful those words are?
Sometimes, as a very simple discipline, when I become aware that I'm becoming anxious and serious, I pray, "Lord, how might I respond to this situation playfully rather than seriously?"
It's my little effort to learn from the example of Lucy.
7 comments:
Wow playfulness is such a great concept. It is intresting thta you used your dog too. We have a puppy, well almost 10 months now. He loves to play too. He is very playful and energetic. But if you ignore him for a day or 2 wow does he get in trouble. If his playfulness and exercise are not fullfilled he becomes very "serious", his behavior changes, his attitude changes and he gets into no end of trouble. If i look at my own life I guess i see the same thing if I get too "serious" it always causes problems. The trouble is it is easy to take the dog for a walk or play ball with him, but much harder to do that for myself
thank you pastor Steve you have hit the problems I have been having with my current issue's that I am having with health and the loss of my father-in-law. I have been been very weighted down with poor health issues that seem to keep mulipling. My Father-in-law Art was just a blessing to be around he had away of saying things with a flare of humor. I know where my husband gets his sense of humor! Now I can look back and see I have completely lost my snse of humor. I can get back on track now that I found the very crucial missing part.
John and Kelly,
Thanks for your posts. I wonder, in what ways does religion sometimes contribute to the problem of over-seriousness? I've been thinking about the accusation that was made of Jesus: he was called a 'drunkard and a glutton.' I doubt very seriously that he really was either of these, but the fact that he was accused of this--what we today might call being a 'party animal' indicates that there was a much more playful side than his opponents were comfortable with.
Personally, I know that I'm much healthier when I can look back on a day and remember occasions of laughter, free-flowing thought, sillyness and joy.
Hey Steve, Thanks for your thoughts on this. I grew up in a family whose number one way of coping with stress was to laugh and play. We didn't have alot of money, so family vacations were not possible, even outings were rare. Perhaps that's why we had to be creative in our play. Like my father, I believe you can find the humor in ANYTHING, if you cock your head just right and look for it. I seem to be able to find amusing attributes to even the most serious situation life throws at us.
So, whether I am perfecting my animal noises, making fangs with candy corn, whistling Bethoven, or sticking something weird in my nose and chasing the kids around the house (don't ask), I am always and forever grateful for this gift of playfulness and humor that God gave to us, and grateful too, for a family that fostered a great sense of humor and creative play. I have cherished that gift all my life and I am sure I will continue to rely on it to get me through all the serious things life throws my way. Thanks for reminding me how important this is.
PS Did you know I eat jello without even opening my mouth?
I think that our church is very unique in the fact that we promote and incourage laughter. Most church's that I have visited seem to be as far from fun and laughter as they can get. That does not make me feel very welcomed. My very favorite picture of Jesus hangs in your office. That is how I picture my Lord and Savior. Having a rally good belly laugh. After all he did make us that in and of it's self is pretty funny. Somewhere along the line most likely from the sadusee's sorry it is a play on words. But I think that it answers your question they just didn't get it. Jesus was very aware of his future and that would make it hard to have fun. But he seen the importance of laughter. It can get you throught the hardest of times. I think that like alot things we forget the really important stuff like laughter and forcus on the small stuff like being serious all the time and that can and will ware you down fast and hardand it stays with you for a long time and keeps feeding off of you. Where if you can laugh even just a little bit it stays with you for along time and keeps brighting your path. I picure this little light of mine as really being one picture after another of Jim Larson's far side. my personal favorite cartoonist
I have been in churches that are very legalistic. They seem to place huge emphasis on what you do or don't do, how you look and dress and who you hang out with. Usually, the emphasis has been on meeting their criteria for what is right, not neccesarily what the bible says is right. I came away feeling that pleasing the "people and their rules" was more important that pleasing God. Jesus met people right wher they were, he didnt say, "go buy some better cloths and have a bath and I talk to you" Some times I think religion takes itself way to seriously, with legalism and denominations pointing fingers and saying they are the only ones who are right. God must look down and shake his head sometimes and wonder how we get so far off track sometimes.
Hi Steve,
It wasn't long ago that we discussed this when I was going through a time when I wanted to be "serious" and, as I look back, be "in control." I am grateful for our discussion. As I read your message I remembered the artist's rendition of the "Laughing Jesus." We are far too serious sometimes and I tend to think that most of it comes from worry/concern. We want things to go well and when they aren't going so well, we get worried and become anxious "for nothing." God is sovereign...and we are not God (which is a good thing). Laughter, joy, play and love go along with resting in Him and that's a choice we have to make (not always an easy one and often overlooked). I think we find that playfulness when we stop being anxious and simply choose to trust Him. Life is far more fun when we "laugh" with Jesus. Thank you for reminding us. Playfulness is good for the soul! You exemplify it often and it is very refreshing for those of us who look to you for guidance from Him.
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