I really tire of my job. Why? Because I’m like most of you and I would rather be doing other things. I really don’t enjoy my work. (For the record, my current work is not in ministry, though I am preparing for such a work. I do enjoy my time spent whenever I am in ministry.) The songwriter is partially right in saying “Girls just wanna have fun.” I think we’re all like that.
I think back to the Garden of Eden to see how far we’ve fallen. I do not think Adam was bored there. He was to work, but I think he could literally whistle while he worked. It was his great pleasure to get to serve in the garden. I also remember his other command in the garden. He was to be fruitful and multiply. I am sure Eve was a true beauty and I seriously doubt that Adam felt the task of multiplying was a punishment. (Indeed, this is one command that we can say the human race has safely kept.)
<> Yet that act of pleasure was also part of Adam’s work. His pleasure was work and his work was pleasure. Why are we the opposite? It could be that we see no purpose in our work, and indeed, in many cases, this might be so. It could be the way others above us or around us treat us. It could just be that this isn’t what brings us to life.
Yet this could also be a clue. C.S. Lewis spoke about play being closer to the nature of Heaven than work. I believe he’s right. Work is done for an ends. Play is a means in itself. We will work so we can have the time to play later on. We do not play so we can have the time to work later on.
<> And maybe while we have so much to do it seems and strangely, so little time to do it, we should still take out time to play. It could help deal with our workaholics. Play helps us step outside of ourselves and see a world beyond us. In other words, play allows us to transcend the world around us.
Thus, in the words of a good friend of mine, “GO PLAY!”
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