re-creation

One of the words that I want to explore a little is re-creation, otherwise known as recreation. I made the prefix stand our because "re" means again and well creation is creation. The word then means to create again. We all need re-creation, we need times of rest and renewal.

Something I am hoping we will learn is how to integrate our spirituality into our recreation so that they truly become times of rest, renewal and an expression of the sabbath. Take golf for example. For many golf is a passion and a past time but it is not spiritual time at all, even for many Christians. Some might think of my notion of golf as spiritual sacrilegious.

Golf is outside in the world that God created and sustains by his word. Golf is generally done with other people, it is relational. Golf involves focus and ties our body and mind into a single activity. Golf is a privilege. Given the right approach golf can be a very spiritual experience, especially when: we give thanks to God for the beauty of creation, we recognize the holiness of the people we are with, give thanks for our bodies and the ability to golf and yield to the fact that we need re-creation as part of our humanness.

As we learn to re-create then we are refreshed for the work ahead and also we begin to build the awareness of God's presence in and through our entire life. We can begin to build a prayerful approach to life that will ground us in whose we are and who we are. Learning to be grounded and prayerful during re-creation will help us learn to be grounded in the more challenging times in life.

Many people will never go on spiritual retreats at retreat houses but they will hike, golf, fish, climb, hunt, boat and do a host of activities that have a spiritual element to them and with proper training can work like catapults throwing them into a deeper relationship with Christ.