Let's Play!

I have heard it said that the family that prays together stays together..... well Sister Joan Chittister says "the family, the group, the couple, the persons that play together, stay together."

"there is something about taking the time to do nothing important that is important. Play washes ambition out of the soul. Instead, it is about doing something simply for the pure joy of doing it. For one brief moment in the midst of striving to stay alive, there is no product to be produced, no personal gain to be sought, nothing to prove. That may be why childhood is so largely devoted to play, to the exhilaration of aimlessness. It is the one period in life when we are allowed to wallow in the understanding that just being alive is enough for us. No money or medals needed. No evaluations expected. No better or worse implied.

Play releases the mind to think outside the boundaries of both the self and the society that shapes us. It teaches us the joy of freedom and gives us the right to break all the rules: we can dirty our shoes, laugh out loud, slide in the grass and blow bubbles to nowhere and no one will care.

We learn, too, that, in the end, life is itself a "house of cards" built to collapse–however much the strain or tension, skill or concentration we give it as we go. Play exposes us to the fact that there is nothing we ever do in life, however high we go in the process, that is permanent. Only that simple lesson itself is permanent. And, in the end, that may well be enough to carry us calmly and expectantly from one of life's games to the next."
— from the July 2011 Monastic Way by Joan Chittister    

Water and Kids = Play

Add a Slide, add more fun

Add a trampoline, a designated water boy and you get tons of fun

Water, Grandma and fishing is the best kind of play

Even the hard task of bringing in the fish in is fun

Relaxed Play

Water + wet plastic + daring kid = super fun!

Water + wet plastic + not-so-daring kid = fun too

Slip, sliding away

Wash your cares away in a splash

Hang in there, Sparky

Ahh, almost like flying

Jungle Gym for a jungle boy

I taught him all he knows about this playground equipment stuff

I hope you find some time in your day for a bit of play.  I hope you dare to try something new, that your cares be washed away and that you accept the gift of wisdom from someone older and more experienced.  HAVE FUN!