Play is essential to the spiritual life.
In the book of Proverbs, Wisdom speaks. She speaks about her beginnings, and the beginnings of the earth.
YHWH created me as the beginning of their1 work,
the first of their acts long ago.
Ages ago I was set up,
at the first, before the beginning of the earth…
when YHWH marked out the foundations of the earth,
then I was beside them like a little child;
and I was daily their delight,
playing2 before them always,
playing in their inhabited world
and delighting in the human race.
And now, my children, listen to me:
happy are those who keep my ways.3
Happy are those who do as Wisdom did. Wisdom played during the creation of the world. There was delight and play in our making, and in the making of all that is.
Play invites wonder and wonder draws us toward mystery- toward the in-nameable. Wonder offers a connection to the Divine.
You already have some knowledge of the wisdom of play. You wrote that this past week you have:
- played instruments
- got together with family and or friends
- eaten outside with family and friends
- explored nature
- eaten good food
- played card games and board games
- cooked and baked special foods
- gone for a drive
- played with pets
- rearranged furniture
- saw a drive-in movie
- went swimming
In the book of Exodus, God commands:
Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest; even in plowing time and in harvest time you shall rest.4
“Even in plowing time and harvest time.” There is a whole lot of work to do during plowing and harvest. It is a time of everybody pitching in and long days. God commands that even then – even when we are overwhelmed with things that need to be done – we are to rest.
So, in this time of uncertainty, long days, and added stress, we are called to rest, to play. To do that which restores our souls.
Let us play…
Rachael
1 Since we don’t actually know what God’s gender may be, and metaphors used in scripture to describe God encompass all genders, I used they/them/their pronouns.
2 If you look this verse up in your Bible, you won’t likely find the Hebrew sachaq translated “playing”. I am drawing on the work of the late scholar on Proverbs, Chuck Melchert.
3 Proverbs 8:22-23, 30-32 (NRSV)
4 Exodus 34:21 (NRSV)