What is the right balance between work and leisure? That was the topic in week four of the “Life Worth Living” class that Dr. Graves leads. I was a little self conscious about the topic as my scale often tips too far into the work. How could play be fun when there are more things to check off on the to-do list? While another woman in my group shared that she approached the topic reluctantly since she doesn’t have a job outside the home. She feared she didn’t have much to say about real work, especially the kind that earns money. When do we play and when do we work and does God care? Is one more valuable than the other?
For me leisure has often been utilitarian. I take time to rest so that I can return to my work refreshed and renewed and ready to be productive again. I walk with a friend to get exercise and build friendship. But is leisure of any value in and of itself? Recently I cleaned out my bird feeder and set out new seeds. But is it a waste of time to sit and watch the birds?
The scriptures invite us to “Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow, they neither toil nor spin.” (Matthew 6:28) I always thought that was a verse to remind us not to worry. But I wonder if it is also a way of reminding us that God created us not only to toil but just to be. To be idle. To spend time hanging out with God. To rest and reflect and savor being alive. During our Lenten journey we have been writing down one thing a week that makes life worth living and how we plan to practice that during the week and then placing it in a cup. Last week I wrote down “Play” When I told my husband that was my word for the week, he laughed out loud. I guess I haven’t done that well in the practicing.
Sometimes, even in the spiritual life, we strive and labor, as if somehow it is up to us to reach God. Writer Mark Slouka points out that our forebears, the Puritans, thought “the individual could earn his all-expenses paid trip to the pearly gates through the labor of his hands rather than solely through the grace of God. Think of it as a kind of frequent-flier plan for the soul.” But the truth is that we cannot ever reach gold or platinum status in the holy realm. There is nothing we can do to make God love us more than God already does at this very moment. God comes to us as pure grace. God rested on the seventh day of creation. I wonder how God spent the leisurely day?
Grace and peace,
Carla
