Are You Having Fun Yet?

I didn't realize it at the time but I was just about dragging myself to the end of last year. I was exhausted. So tired, in fact, that I didn't even have the energy to be able to see how tired I was! This isn't a complaint. I am more thankful than I can say for all the good, interesting, hard work A.R.E. was given to do last year. It helped position us for this new day, new organizational structure, new partner, new directions, new sense of purpose, new year. But looking back on it all now, after having had a little time off, all I can say is: Wow.

My guess is that you know exactly what it feels like to be hanging on to the end of a rapidly fraying rope, wondering how you're going to make it through to the end of whatever the season, whatever the project, is. And, like me, you may be standing at the beginning of this new year determined to do things differently, work smarter, stay healthier, live a more balanced life.

So, maybe you will also appreciate Tony Campolo's recent Beliefnet post, titled A Cure for Burnouts in which he plugs his newest book The God of Intimacy and Action and offers three suggestions for making "spiritual renewal a daily practice."

Using the spiritual exercises of St. Ignatius as a jumping off point, Tony recommends a daily practice of 1) centering prayer, 2) Lectio Divina, and 3) prayer of examen, in which you offer up to God at the end of the day all the things you did that were holy and all the things that you did that were not, and wait for the cleansing of forgiveness that comes.

These are helpful - and important - suggestions.

Here's what I'd like to add: Fun.

Jesus said you can't "enter the kingdom" unless you become like a child (Mat. 18:3). And we know that when he talked about the kingdom, he wasn't just talking about eternal life; he was talking about a kingdom that is right here, right now; he was talking about a new reality, God's reality, where justice and compassion and peace and joy abound. That is the kingdom Jesus came announcing; it's the kingdom he invited us to "turn around" and see. But he said we can only experience that kingdom if we act like kids!

And if kids know how to do anything, it's how to have fun.

I've made a personal commitment in this new year to play more, laugh more, dance more, take more time off, just for fun. I know it's only been a couple of weeks, but I can honestly say this: So far, so good.

We have also made a commitment, at A.R.E., to work playfully, too. In fact, "Working Playfully" is one of our newly articulated guiding principles. It's our experience that when people are taking their work - but not themselves - seriously, they are more creative, more willing to try new things, less afraid of failure, more free. We'll put this principle into practice in an even more intentional way as we work with our clients in this new year...but we will be holding each other accountable for it, too.

It does seem a little backwards to have to PLAN for fun, I know. That's the problem with being a grown up. Get over it. Open up your calendar and put some play dates on it. And the next time you're writing an agenda for a meeting, drafting a proposal, designing an event (even, my pastor friends, a worship service), make sure you PLAN for fun. Expect laughter. Give people permission to play.

I'm right there with you.

- Kelly Fryer