"The true object of all human life is play. Heaven itself will be one big playground with children at play with their Father."
G.K. Chesterton
A few years ago I had the opportunity to travel to the holy land. On the third day there at around 6 PM, Saturday, everything turned off. My Internet went out. Lights went out. Everything turned off. I went to the front desk of the hotel to ask what was going on. The attendant said, "It is Shabbat sir!"
Sabbath.
And thus began for me a radical reunderstanding of what God meant by Sabbath rest. As I walked the streets of Jerusalem, I saw fathers at play with their children, laughing, loving enjoying life together. That night I went to a Sabbath dinner and was blown away by the experience of living life unto God and his rhythms. That night as I lay my head on my pillow in that hotel in Jerusalem I silently prayed and asked the Father to please make me more childlike in my relationship with Him and with others, but most of all, within myself.
Since that point I have tried to put into practice putting the Sabbath principal first in my life. Friday is my sabbath and I work hard to make it a day of play and recreation. To be with friends and to laugh heartily and enjoy the gift of life.
But something deeper has occurred in me over the past five years.
A deep stripping away has taken place. Layers of need for human approval, to be liked and even understood, all have been stripped away, taking me down to my bare essence as a human being, as a child of God. I have found immense freedom to be my true self and not try to be someone other than who God created me to be.
So last night I took a simple little 10 question Facebook test that revealed who you are in 3 words. I was actually surprised to see the answer:
Playful, Fun, Llighthearted.
I smiled to myself and simply said, "Thank you Father. You answered my prayer."
I know that this is who I am in my authentic self now, the person God created me to be, not just now but for all eternity. He has restored the essence of what I had for so long lost, The world and life is my Father's playground that we enjoy together. As Chesterton said so well, "A foretaste of heaven on earth."
And truth be told? I really didn't like the person I had become anyway. The burden of carrying false selves out of need to meet people's expectations and approval was miserable. As Martin Luther King on wonderfully said,.....
"Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty,… I'm free at last!"