HOW GOD SPEAKS THROUGH PLAY
Holy Uselessness
by Sue Magrath
"There the ships go to and fro, and the leviathan, which you formed to frolic there."
—Psalm 104:26 (NIV)
We are not a culture that places great value on play. In fact, we look down on those who fail to live up to our ideals of industry and productivity. Work defines us and gives us value. Even when we do relax a little, our leisure is marked by competitive sport, video games or mindless television.
Yet play that nurtures our soul requires something Margaret Guenther calls "holy uselessness". [1]
I interpret this as willingness to "waste" time with God. It is only when we stop working and engage in a playful spirituality that we become aware of how much God delights in us, how much our Creator longs to run on the beach with us or watch butterflies or swing from the branches of a spreading oak tree, glorying in the dappled sunlight.
This kind of play liberates us from the confines of our own perfectionism, from our ego need to acquire and achieve, and from our anxieties about tomorrow, for play is lived utterly in the moment.
And when we are alive to the present moment, we are available to hear God's voice. God speaks in and through the beauty of creation where we hike and climb, in the laughter of loved ones with whom we engage in games and humor, in the wondrous workings of our own bodies, in the delightful world of our imagination. In our daydreaming, we co-create with God, imagining divine possibilities.
Friedrich Schiller tells us, "The human being is completely human only at play."
Thus, play allows us to become more fully who we are. We hear God telling us that we are enough, just as we are. When we step out from behind the masks we wear, we hear God's words of love and affirmation calling us to live into deeper authenticity with the person God created us to be. The Word that brought us into being invites us to play. May it be so.
Reflection Question: In the Psalm, are you a ship, going to and fro on your daily tasks, or are you the leviathan who frolics in God's creation? How might you make yourself more available to God's voice by engaging in sacred play?
[1] Margaret Guenther, Holy Listening: The Art of Spiritual Direction (Cambridge, MA: Cowley Publications, 1992), p.58.
