A few weeks ago at Christmas, in a spontaneous act of temporary insanity, I put on my swimming suit, opened the front door, entered the icy air and jumped off of my front step into the snow (I even have the pictures to prove it).  I called it “Canadian Swimming.”  It was one of those events that caught my kids off guard and will be now be one of our family legends.  It was a crazy act, done partially out of rebellion of our long winter season and partially as a spontaneous act of joyful fun.

Upon reflection, and after warming up in a hot shower, I came to the conclusion that we all need to have more spontaneous acts of fun in our lives.  I am not suggesting that we all jump off our front steps into a mountain of snow but there are times when you need to break the cycle and routine of life and engage in some spontaneous fun.  It might be my own experience, but it is precisely these times of spontaneous fun that create memories and sometimes jar us out of our routines and ruts.

As a Christian, and as a pastor, it is often assumed that I must have given up on fun to live the calling I have.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  I love to have fun, love to laugh, enjoy times with friends, and do silly things like jump in snow banks in just my swimming suit.  At the same time, I’m normal (although after Canadian Swimming, this is debatable) and sometimes I get caught in the routine of life, the stress of work, and the busyness of responsibility and I lose track of the joy that I am invited to experience.

I think we can forget that life was created by God to be full of joy.  Even in the creation account of the Bible there is a sense of joy and play in the Garden of Eden.  This is what God intended when he created humanity and what God calls us to.  God calls us to life, abundant and eternal life through Christ Jesus (John 3:16; John 10:10), and this life is not a life intended to be devoid of play and joy but rather filled with it.  There is nothing shameful in laughter and clean humor; God has given us humor and laughter as a beautiful gift, a gift that we are called to embrace rather than erase or suppress.

I think we all need more spontaneous jumps of playful joy as we celebrate the life we have been given and enter into the eternal and abundant life available to us in Christ Jesus.