I read an article of Concordia Journal back in 2015 that was quite impressionable to me and energizing to read: “Faithful Witness in Work and Rest.” By Dr. William W. Schumacher
Here is a link to the article:
Prior to reading this article I gave a fair amount of thought as a pastor and counselor about the balance between work and rest. It is evident how too much work can lead to both emotional and physical depletion; and too much unstructured rest often leaves people feeling anxiety about lack of fulfillment and purpose in life.
I had not considered how aspects of work and rest can be combined through what he categorizes as play. Schumacher views play as a corrective trend in our culture to reconnect work and pleasure. He sees play as the work we do for the sheer pleasure of it.
I want to reflect in this post about what is the value of play, what often keeps us from play as a source of restorative use of time.
It is evident how the balance between work and rest can become out of synch easily. The profit driven priorities of this world create many a workplace that demands more than we can reasonably give. When a job is your sole source of financial revenue it is difficult to weigh your own self interest and health in balance with what your job demands.
In other cases your employer may not ask from you more than you can give, but you may ask of yourself more than you can afford to give. You may find yourself taking on more overtime hours and responsibilities at work than you would like to give because you are fearful that you will be left behind if you are less career driven than your coworkers. This may also connect with pride, pursuit of legacy, and a sense that your self worth and value in the world is determined by your career. Rest can resemble a luxury that feels beyond what you feel you deserve.
Often when rest is neglected enough, the times when we do rest we are so far gone, so depleted of energy that we seek passive forms of entertainment. Binge watch on Netflix for a while and then call it a day. Exercise and playful activity seems just beyond what we are motivated for. This feeling of low motivation is part of depression. Opportunities and possibilities are closed off by the mind before any other factor in the world closes it off to us.
What a different story our relationship between work and rest can be when we find time to pursue play. Play may sound like something that is not fitting for an adult or a parent. You may fear that you will be thought of as a child if you talk about a playful pursuit in your life. You may fear association of play as only for children. Yet I invite you to move forward anyways in reconnecting with the spirit of play you likely had in greater degree as a child.
A father might play by engineering an elaborate race track filling up half the living room and down the hallway for hot wheel cars. All he needs to do is collect carboard paper towel rolls, toilet paper cardboard rolls, wrapping paper rolls and let his imagination and work ethic translate into a master design for the Saturday afternoon.
One person might pursue play by redecorating the home or rearranging furniture. Another person might build something in the garage or in the shop. Personally I have never ceased to be amazed at how restorative it feels to throw a frisbee or hit a ball with a bat as far as my strength and coordination allows.
Play can be exercised by taking on cooking projects that experiment with taste preferences. Or taking on an art project in order to create a card for someone you care about.
I believe the heart of play is a spiritual issue. We can’t help but look at life circumstances differently when we hear Jesus talk about how much lighter our life can be in Him:
“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30
When I try to make things or invent new ways for introducing play in my life I often think of how Adam and Eve were given stewardship over the earth, blessed with skills and abilities to be it’s care takers. Through his passion in the cross Jesus has reconnected me with God’s image. Jesus has reconnected me with the creativity and joyful wonder that humans were created with from the start.
I am not gifted at art. Yet through the desire to model something to my family about play and pursuit of wonder as an aspect of play I made this acrylic painting over the course of a few days of a preexisting drawing of peanuts characters.
In the years since I read Schumacher’s article I have at times asked counseling patients who are worn down or discouraged by daily life routines what room in their life they have for play. Consistently I hear about pursuit of passive entertainment and leisure, but rarely about true recreation activities and pursuit of play. I believe our American culture pushes us toward pursuit of entertainment so persistently that we can lose sight of all of the opportunities for play that await us. Spring is here, Easter is here: happy play.