Perspective

This weekend God gave me some perspective about what is important in life...
I got thrown for a loop and landed in a pile of ...well let's just say I was not in a good place.

As a result I deactivated my facebook account and spent the weekend face to face with people and things I love.  I set out Saturday, early, to chew what I had bitten off.. a tough task.  I wanted to dig out my raspberries, dig out my blueberries and finish planting my garden.

Craig and Kathleen graciously offered to come over and help till up a little spot of land for my corn.  They showed up and did much more than that!  They got out of the truck, with Maggie in tow (who was more than happy to romp around with Alice all day)  and the first thing out of their mouth was, what can we do?  Oh, well I drug the rotatiller down from my dads, I just need that little patch tilled up.  Kathleen looked at me and said, well what else?  What are you working on here, as she gestured to the raspberry patch mess.  Ohh well, I'm trying to dig that out, and the blueberries.  Okay, and we got to work.  I had no idea they had planned on spending the afternoon helping me attack the monster that is my yard!  My heart did a cartwheel and I smiled the entire day.
 Of course, as I type this...I can't lift my arms above my head but it was all worth it.  The Loverbys brought their service hearts and loved me in a way that I didn't know I needed loving.

The yard has a lot of work but what I needed most that day was the love...what got accomplished was a bonus.

And I'm a quick study...I reactivated my facebook account, with a few adjustments and totally different mind set.

SPIRAL

It started.  It's unstoppable.
The spiraling down from no where near the top.

One man, one word.
No one, no words.

The festival of hope dashed with inaction.
Thoughts of wonderment and fun destroyed by one action.

Assumptions are made,
hearts hurt
... paralysis begins.

Don't strive for the top,
or get comfortable with hope,

marinating in the bottom of hopelessness
... confusion
the bottom.

frolic, romp, carouse, dance, cavort, triumph

All synonyms for PLAY.  My dear friend Kathleen knows how to play and play well and because she knows, she encourages others to play. She has an entire blog dedicated to playing!  Neoteny. She knows what a huge difference it can make in your life and she purposes to play, decides to play, chooses to play.  I adore playing!  In fact, playing inevitably leads to laughter and laughing is one of my favorite things to do.  So why don't I play more?  Well I'll tell you why.  I don't play more because I have trouble finding a way to integrate play into my everyday life.  I always WANT to play but then the things that I feel I HAVE to do get in the way of the playing and for some reason I can't meld the two.  So as I was studying yesterday I was trying to be all crafty and make cute fun things for moms on Mother's day and I clicked on to the thesaurus and entered "PLAY".  What I found may just change my life. - and may I at this time add a disclaimer because I am not a semanticist, an etymologist, a linguist or a theologian....but what I learned may be of interest to you too.  The word play has a lot of synonyms and they sound like they would be, for example frolic... frolic just sounds fun... I picture hopping through a field of daisies and giggling.  And then there is carouse and cavort well those just sound like naughty fun... you know like playing a silly prank on someone. There is dance and twirl...again just thinking of those words puts a smile on my face.  And then there is REJOICE.  Rejoice is a synonym for play.  Now THAT is what could change my world.   Last night I pulled out my Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, it's a huge red book that's a good eh? 3 inches thick.  I got it at the Goodwill some 15 years ago...for 6.99!  Anyway, the name and date scrawled in the front cover says 1971...it's an older version, regardless, when I counted up the number times the word rejoice was listed with reference I found almost 200.  And that was just rejoice.  It does not include rejoiced, rejoicest, rejoiceth and rejoicing.  And here is what I began to wonder...
What if God told me to play?  What if God wanted me to play?
What if God told YOU to play?  What if God wanted YOU to play?

PSALM 118:24 This is the day the Lord has made; let us PLAY and be glad in it. 
ISAIAH 61:10 I delight greatly in the Lord; my soul PLAYS in my God.  For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. 
JOHN 16:22 so with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will PLAY, and no one will take away your joy. 
ROMANS 12:15 PLAY with those who PLAY
PHILIPPIANS 4:4 PLAY in the Lord always.  I will say it again; PLAY! 
1 THESSALONIANS 5:16-18 PLAY always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.  


So decide to play.  Life is too short to be too serious...