Just Playing Around
February 9, 2006 Posted by Roger Overton
Do you ever feel guilty about doing things “just for fun?”
Many of us commit ourselves to so much that we often do. We feel like if we
spend any time watching television, playing a game, or hanging out with friends
we’re not making effective use of our time. Well, I do anyway.
So I’m going to come clean. Sometimes I play computer games.
I’m not really a “gamer.” There’s only a few games I like- Civilization 2,
Knights of the Old Republic 1 & 2. Every once in awhile I’ll play for a few
hours straight, almost always there’s something more “important” I could be
doing. I like watching a few shows, like 24, Lost, Monk, and of course, The
A-Team. I started 24 half way through season 4. I acquired the earlier seasons
last fall and watched them in about a month. That’s 54 hours I could have spent
doing homework and getting better grades last semester. Lately I’ve started
baking for the fun of it, and for the fun of other people trying my
experiments.
There, it’s out now. Look at all that time I wasted! Well,
not really… Even though I often feel guilty, I usually force myself to take
leisure time. (In Seal Beach there’s a place called Leisure World and in front
is a giant globe. When I was little I associated it with the globe at Universal
Studios and so I thought Leisure World was an amusement park. It was some time
before I found out it was actually a retirement village…)
I have the unfortunate propensity for taking on too many
things. It’s in my blood. For example, I obtained a business license at 17 to
run an outreach concert ministry (Double-Edged Productions), while I was still
in high school. One March I put together 4 shows and called it “March Madness,”
and it was. I’d bore you by listing all the other things I’ve taken on, but you
should get the point. I need to force myself to take time to unwind, enjoy
life, and relax just a little.
This isn’t just something I do to keep my sanity, however.
Even though I don’t believe the Sabbath law is required of us today, I don’t
believe God decreed it just to make the law an even number. Taking time to rest
is rooted somehow in the divine act of creation. If it was important for God to
rest, so to it is for us who are made in His image. Taking a break isn’t just a
relaxing thing to do. It should remind us of our Creator and should be an
expression of worship to Him. It’s a form of enjoying God- by enjoying the
things He’s blessed us with. Having fun isn’t just playing around…
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- Playing Politics With Same-Sex Marriage And Undermining A Free Society
- Noteworthy Events
- Murdock Can Fly!
- Baseball Goes Cheeseball
- Victory in Death
Posted in Main Page, Miscellaneous, Roger's Posts
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February 9th, 2006 at 10:56 am
I tend to flip-flop between extremely intense work and long stretches of liesure. It seems to balance itself out in the long run, so i don't pay it to much worry while i try to work out a less maddening cycle (moving towards one day out of seven days instead of one week out of seven weeks). I do know people who seem constantly haunted by the feeling there is something they could be doing. It tears at them, as i figure it must at you. Though i enjoy the work you do, i hope you find good times of rest.
February 10th, 2006 at 10:55 am
The other day I suffered from a bit of overwork and I noticed it affecting my spiritual life, or the tone of my spirituality I should say. So I prayed about it. And I got the message that I should take care not to overdo. I should rest, via some relaxing endeavor (you game, I read, some garden or run or whatnot). So, yes, I think there's actually a spiritual imperative to rest!
You mentioned the Sabbath commandment, and that gets me to this thought: the statutes found in the Law (Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy) were culture-specific rules derived from spiritual principles. So, even though you, and me for that matter, consider ourselves “free” of sabbath law, we still need to rest. We need to remember to seek the principle behind other statutes as well–modern Christians don't feel bound to observe most of them. I wrote a post here on this topic because I find it odd that some Christians cherry-pick certain statutes to follow while disregarding others. And that's not playing around!
Vicky
February 10th, 2006 at 12:22 pm
A lot has been written on how Americans approach time as a precious commodity one dare not “waste.” The Sabbath rest is a gift to us, permission to stop being productive and enjoy life in ways that may not be possible when we have work to do. It's a command that is beneficial to us and shows again God's compassion for us.
My friend, the Dane, at nowheresville.us is a huge computer gamer and has recently written two lengthy posts on the best video games of all time, going back to Atari and such. You might take a look.