I am not known for relaxing! In fact, I’ve often wondered if it’s even right for those of us in the “helping professions” to take time for ourselves, or even smile, while people around us are in such trouble?
How can we stop our hectic schedule when we have a family member in trouble, there are hospital visits to make, the homeless to feed, or a mission project on hand? And what is fun anyway? Is it the same as joy?
The Word of God tells me that “The joy of the Lord is my strength,” and that is true. It’s His joy that helps me to relax and have pure fun!
Joy is found first in God. In reveling in Him: in being in the Throne Room and hearing the seraph sing. But then I must go out into my ‘rush and bustle daily day’ and practice that “present presence” of the Lord till I come to a screeching halt at night and fall into bed beside my perfectly relaxed husband who has been just as busy as I have!( How does he do that?!)
I find I need to relax on the run, replenish whatever part of me needs it while in headlong flight, and enjoy the people that God sends to make my heart smile along the way. Sometimes, a change of activity helps, like gardening, or walking, or reading an Agatha Christie mystery, or painting a picture, or watching a Pink Panther classic video, or squeezing in a class of some interest! To each his own.
And I know as my doctor told me years ago, and my sweet husband tells me regularly, that my heart is bigger than my body and I need to let down and have some fun to preserve what’s left of me as a 70-year-old. So in fact I do “work at having fun.” I have to put it on my calendar - “have fun, Thursday, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.” - or I won’t do it! For me, it’s a matter of sheer obedience and discipline to take care of those parts of me that are falling apart at my stage of life. Then I have to find out what works for me!
What works for one person doesn’t necessarily work for another. You have to know yourself. Sometimes after joining in what others count as “fun,” I find myself quite spent. Other activities you might consider real hard work fill me up with such joy that I don’t know what to do with myself! For me, doing nothing creates more stress than doing everything! So I’ve learned to change my activity to something more relaxing. I’ve also learned to find joy in where I am at any given time - being creative with whatever I find at hand, and seeing the ways I can find or make fun in whatever environment I am in.
What thing are you going to do this week to have fun?
