Are you working at your play?

Posted byoakhillcrossvillePosted inUncategorized
Good morning everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Selfcare”

Our Bible verse for today: “I know that there is nothing better for them than to rejoice and enjoy the good life. It is also the gift of God whenever anyone eats, drinks, and enjoys all his efforts.” Ecclesiastes 3:12-13 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Are you working at your play?”

Have you ever come back from a vacation exhausted, feeling like you need a vacation after your vacation? I’m sure we’ve all had that experience. We are so eager to squeeze as much “fun” into our vacation that we end up rolling from one activity to another until finally, we’re exhausted from playing and vacation time was not restful at all.

Sometimes we work at our play – to the point that play leaves us as exhausted and worn out as does our work. Social commentator Gordon Dahl once wrote, “In truth, for millions of Americans – hard-working Americans – leisure has come to mean little more than an ever more furious orgy of consumption. Whatever energies are left after working are spent in pursuing pleasure with the help of an endless array of goods and service … It offers men the choice of either working themselves to death or consuming themselves to death – or both.”

What Dahl was referring to is our tendency to work too hard, followed by our tendency to play to hard, all of which, when added together, leaves us exhausted, drained, and unhappy with life. Once your exhausting vacation is over you now get to go back to your exhausting job.

Please don’t misunderstand me. I am not arguing against vigorous activity as a form of recreation. I love whitewater kayaking, 10-mile hikes, long rides on my mountain bike, open-ocean swims, and much more. Such activities are good for us. They leave us tired but content and feeling good – if we don’t overdo it. Too much of that, especially strung together activity after activity, becomes work and leaves us exhausted rather than rested.

The picture Solomon paints for us in Ecclesiastes 3:12-13 is of the people of God engaging in leisurely (unhurried and relaxing) fun activities and doing so with God’s blessing. We will think more about this in the days to come but for now, I encourage you to do something today that relaxes you physically and which also feeds your soul.

God bless,
Pastor Jim

(If you like what you’re reading in these daily devotionals, and if you would like more content from Oak Hill Baptist Church, join us on Sundays at 10:00 – in-person if you are nearby or, if you are geographically distant or if you just can’t make it, online at www.YouTube.com/@oakhillbaptistcrossville
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