The Pastor’s Desk

Grace and peace be with you all from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

When was the last time that you played? As adults we typically believe that play is for children, but I think that it is so important to allow adults to engage in play as well. It is very normal for me to have many heavy and hard conversations throughout the week, not to mention experiencing stress of just the world we are currently living in, so I have found a helpful reset to my system is play. There are two ways that I engage in play, board games and stick handling. Once a month friends of mine and Kurt’s host a game night. Sometimes there’s a theme, sometimes its random, but I always leave with my face and belly hurting from laughter. We play multiple games throughout the night and rarely talk about anything important instead choosing to talk about the ridiculous. Kurt and I have an extensive board game collection ourselves and many that are two player allowing us to play when it is just the two of us.

Most of you know that I started taking ice skating lessons in January and have had such a good time that I plan on joining the rec league hockey team in October. There isn’t a whole lot of practice you can do during the summer in our area so I have been focusing on upping my stamina and endurance at the gym and stick handling outside. Stick handling is when you do drills with your hockey stick and a puck. Usually this happens after I’ve gone to the gym and before dinner, there’s a 20-30 min window of time where I go out on our little porch and stick handle. I practice different moves and little tricks and just allow myself to be present and enjoy what I’m doing.

Both of these practices of play allow me to disconnect from my phone and reconnect with the world around me whether it be other people with board games or to clear out my own mind and listen to creation buzzing and chirping around me while I’m stick handling. When I take time for these opportunities of play I feel more relaxed and ready to continue the work in which I have been called. And when I am more relaxed I am also more aware of God moments and am better able to “hear” the Holy Spirit at work.