The importance of play

Playing.

It comes so naturally and yet once we hit those teenage years we somehow stop  -  and then forget. I wonder why that is? The stopping can be explained, I guess by a need to move away from things that are 'childish', things that mark us out as children. As emerging adults we are all to aware that as a general rule adults do not play. They work. And so we try to shed playing and anything associated with playing to become 'more like adults'.

I have asked myself two very serious questions this week. Is this how I want my chldren to view adult life? and have I lost my ability to play?

The answer to the first question is no. Absolutly no. I do not want my kids to think of their life as 'grown up' as work and jobs lists. However if I am honest that is what my life has all too easily become. Several things have brought this into focus recently. A good friend has been inviting us round for games evenings once in a while, another set of friends are also into games and we have recently spent a lot of time with them playing. Playing piggy-in-the-middle on the beach, playing dice games. Also The Artist is into games in a big way, mainly because he lkes the company and this has got me thinking. We have had such a lovely time.

I have not (I don't think) lost the ability to play but I do not prioritise playing, it is way down the list behind cooking, washing, taxi service etc. etc. To some extent this is necessary, it would be no good if we had no clothes to wear or food to eat, but to have little or no play that includes the adults, expecially in a HE household is a poor do.

Thinking back I used to spend a lot of time playing with The Sports star when she was young, whenever we went to family parties I was alwys to be found in the corner with the children playing games rather than in the room with the adults chatting/moaning (there is often a fine line). But once there were three children, a DH that works away, teenage children to drive places and HE to consider (To name a few), the play kind of got lost along the way which is crazy and not at all the planned outcome of taking the kids out of school. I guess I got a bit wrapped up in being an adult and forgot to be who I am. The artists retreat I am sure has helped with this, focused the mind a little, allowed space in the schedule for play for me which in turn gives me more energy for play for 'us'. Spending time with friends who are enthusiastic about play also helps. The dawning realisation that 'the jobs list' will never actually be finished, it will just constantly change over the course of my life.

Spiritually also we are told to be like little children. In play we loose ourselves, we forget the things we are worried about, are planning for or working towards, forget how we look from the outside and become ourselves again. In short we live in the present moment, and that is where God is. God is present to us in the hear and now, not wrapped up in past problems or acheivements or to be found in fututre plans. Like little children wrapped up in a game of complex imaginings, we are called to be completly present to where we are, wrapped up in the love of Christ who is the divine centre of all we are, closer to us than even the breath we breathe. When we are wrapped up in Christ there is no room to worry about what other people are thinking, of how we might look from the outside or even of where the road might take us. We are completely present in the moment with God - just like a child at play.

As with all other things, what we choose to do in our practical daily life is a reflection of how we are spiritually so if I am unable to play, unable to let go enough to be silly, to get caught up in the moment and forget myself, how can I put myself to one side and alow God to work? On so many levels something needs to give.

As a way of trying to redress this a little we are having a bit of a clear out. We are going to play all the games we have and get rid of any that are rubbish so we can replace then with new (or new to us) ones that are worth the space they take up in the cupboard. The Artist and I made a start today as all the others were out and we had the place to ourselves. The problem is going to be that there are just too many good games out there - we only manage to get rid of one and that was because it wasn't in a great condition rather than because it was rubbish.

So more play in our house - at least until I forget again that painting the fence is NOT more important than playing.