Walk the Dog?

Today I received an email promotion from Etsy, an online site that specializes in selling handcrafted items. This email had tiny pictures of gift ideas. One of them was a young kid about 9 or so, who had a on a what? A fish tail from waist down. I thought, how weird, a handmade, knitted shark or mermaid tail. What do they do with it?

Then I realized how far removed I was from the world of “play”. You read this right, I wrote PLAY. I sat there for a moment and let my mind drift. I was 9 again, I realized I could spend hours with a friend playing mermaid on the beach, making up fanciful stories of adventure and romance or having a dressed up shark playmate try to wriggle and catch me– Lauri-Lei mermaid. The scene was filled with giggles and plain old fun.

It’s one week before Christmas and you are probably thinking, she’s nuts! I can’t PLAY, I have to ____________ (you fill in the blank).  Your list is probably as long as your arm and you probably only see PLAY as a luxury or perhaps think you don’t deserve to have any fun, you’ve got tooooooooooo much to do. 

 I’m guilty of hustling through life with my to do list on my back weighing me down.  Fortunately, God gave me a spouse who is not so hindered. I appreciate my husband because of his childlike nature; he’ll never grow up. Yet, my best times are when I am in his presence and he makes me laugh or something fanciful or strange comes out of his mouth. He reminds me to PLAY.

So that’s why I’m going to suggest that you stop, and look for an opportunity to PLAY during this holiday season. Play reduces stress hormones, allows you to get into a time warp (flow), can relax you or allow you to engage and connect with others.

“Snow Dog” is a very popular painting, I always get comments on him, people love him. They imagine themselves outside romping in the snow. Have you ever watched a dog that loves the snow play in it? It’s amazing, zigging, zagging, rolling, eating and throwing snow in the air.  Cultivate play time during the rest of the month; make a memory not another list. Don’t just walk the dog, play with him or her!

PLAY for the pure JOY of it.  The real joy of Christmas is the celebration of Christ’s birth.  Be a child again and celebrate the joy of God, who put on flesh and walked among us.