The Playfulness of God

Playful living comes ridiculously easy when you look like this:

It’s a cinch to laugh deep in moments like these: When you’re tripping over your flippered feet, and the snorkel masks transform your family into underwater bug-eyed invaders, and you each have a single antenna growing out of your head. It’s impossible to miss the playfulness of the world when you’re face-planted in the ocean, eyes wide to the wonder hidden below.

These are the moments when you realize that deeper intimacy with God
is right below the surface,
just around the corner,
and somewhere on the the other side of a to-do list.

Sure, we can imagine God as Comforter or Savior, as Healer or Protector. Perhaps we can even imagine crawling up on the Father’s lap, where He’ll wrap His strong arms around our weary spirits. But can we imagine God as playmate?  Can we imagine Him as the Father who tosses His child with joy into the air?

Yes, we can play with the Prince of Peace.  We can laugh with the Lion of Judah. We can explore the playfulness of God, even in the mundane days, long after the snorkels are packed away.

Deeper intimacy is found with the Father right here, on the playground of his creative world.

Marilyn Meberg wrote this week: “Pain is not God’s fault, but he created a solution anyway.” The solution, she says, is laughter.

Mark Roberts, in his Sunday devotion, wrote: “Work stands at the center of our purpose for living. But, God also created play.”

Maybe this is why children were always trying to get nearer to Jesus. God is not boring. 

Our world is a vast and magical playground of jumping dolphins, spray-blowing whales, frolicking baby deer. And just the other day, the neighbor’s pot-bellied pig, with his wrinkled nose, was peeking through my front window.

The Bible says to have a child-like faith. I’m only beginning to scratch the depths of what that might mean for me.

 ||

Each week, my friend Laura Boggess hosts “Playdates with God” at her blog. She opens our eyes to a God of joy, of delight … and of playfulness. I join her on the journey this week.