The Seriousness of Life

"When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?" Psalm 8:3-4

I love reading about the creativeness of God; this Psalm reminds me just how imaginative God is and, in some respects, playful with his creation. I had an evening with my youngest daughter recently where we went to the beach late at night and just laid there looking at these stars God had thrown out.

Life offers us a lot to take seriously; just reading the news every day will leave you feeling quickly overwhelmed and saturated by how serious life is. Even going to church services can quickly become serious and rooted in a feeling of duty. That’s only half the picture for me; I look for ways to recover that creative playfulness that I think is something God has woven into us.

A mate of mine who is an artist invited me to his studio a while ago; when I got there, he had set up a huge blank canvas for me. His instruction to me was, "just play."

My adult brain was immediately thrown into trying to find purpose, reason, logic, and a map to keep this all structured and measurable, to have a clear outcome and goal.

"Don’t think about it," he said, "just play." I liked that. A curiosity, playfulness that I had lost was being recovered. I think that when we spend time with God, when we go after the stillness and refreshment he offers, this stuff will start to surface, a reconnection with God in some really new and creative ways.

You might find that a conversation with a mate who is drowning in the seriousness of life will surface some of this stuff. This isn’t to say we play at life, but we have a different perspective because of the relationship with the creator that we have.

Devotional Prayer

Jesus, the weight of life has been on, I have felt the enjoyment seeping away and the seriousness of it all burden me. It's robbed me of your presence; it's just felt like duty, lifeless, lifeless duty. I want to discover you Jesus, to know you. Meet me Jesus, what do you want to say to me?