Playing and Praying

Often the children in our lives invite us to play. I wonder how and what you play? Pause a moment and remember the last time you truly played. Maybe you were engaged in a game with another adult, or pretending with your child, or making up a story to tell your grandchild.

Play engages our imagination, our senses and our concentration. It bonds us to others and expresses creativity that is a gift from our Creator. We don’t play to be productive. We enjoy the process. We do it for it’s own sake. It’s fun! 

In his lovely children’s picture book, Sparrow’s Prayer, Roger Hutchison, Director of Christian Formation & Parish Life at an Episcopal Church in Houston tells the story of a little bird whose morning prayer routine simply didn’t work anymore. This causes Sparrow to worry.

Sparrow begins to fly through his day and encounters various animal friends along the way. He vulnerably shares with each friend his struggle to pray and one by one each shares their own special way of connecting with the Holy One….through baking and sharing a pie, through painting, through dancing, through gazing at a beautiful rose.

As night falls Sparrow reflects with relief and thanksgiving, “Each creature does what God created them to do. Each life is a prayer of thanksgiving without words!....Amen.”

The next time you feel the urge to pray, consider that it also might also  be an urge to play. Play, like prayer allows us to engage the outside world and our inner life, imagine new possibilities, and to be fully present in the moment. 

The next time a child invites you to play with them, consider it an invitation to connect with them, your inner child and God. Say, “Yes!”.

With wonder, joy, and playfulness,

Cynthia