The God of Play

Finding Joy

Jun 4

A Reflection by Christine Jurisich

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This month, I invite you to connect with the God of Play. Try skipping, humming, dancing, singing, even daydreaming, and invite God into those moments with you. Invite God into your laughter as a way of recognizing the joy in the ordinary and accepting the imperfections of life.

A few years ago, I was feeling really tired after a retreat season and went on a vacation. Before I left, I told my friends, “I need some time with the God of Play!” I had never articulated that out loud before, and there was a strong yearning for it. I knew I needed to explore what this meant for me. I have worked hard to open myself up to God in my “being” and not just my “doing.” Yet this invitation felt different, like the Divine drawing me into appreciating and enjoying the lighter things in life.

There is so much suffering in the world, and I am not in any way saying we can ignore that. What is important is to notice when we are holding the heaviness of it all in our mind, heart, and body in an unhealthy way. When the latest headline makes us forget there is good in the world or clouds our perspective in a way that makes us feel hopeless or intolerant of others, it is time to pull back, widen our view, and connect with God who is bigger than anything we can imagine.

A merciful God invites us to recreation and leisure and dancing and laughing. A God who wants us to experience joy. Joy—when it is experienced as a fruit of the Spirit—is a burst of love of God and can be felt amidst the sorrows of life. When you experience joy, embrace it. Thank God for it. When you want to dance, dance. This is what it means to live within the paradoxes of life.

If you find resistance within you, it is helpful to hear Dr. Brene Brown’s advice. She talks about “foreboding joy” in her book, “Daring Greatly.” Foreboding joy is the tendency to not allow yourself to feel joy due to the fear that if you do, something bad will happen. Dr. Brown says this is common, and that the antidote is practicing gratitude.

“Don’t squander joy. We can’t prepare for tragedy and loss. When we turn every opportunity to feel joy into a test drive for despair, we actually diminish our resilience. Yes, softening into joy is uncomfortable. Yes, it’s scary. Yes, it’s vulnerable. But every time we allow ourselves to lean into joy and give in to those moments, we build resilience and we cultivate hope. The joy becomes part of who we are, and when bad things happen—and they do happen—we are stronger.” [1]

The God of Play is the God of Joy and the God of Mercy. As we enter summer, I invite you to play with God, however that looks for you. Embrace this one life and this one moment as a pure Divine gift.

Reflect: In what ways would you like to play with God or experience God in your play? How do you think God wants to play with you?

[1] Brene Brown, Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead (New York: Avery, 2012), 126.