Play, Work and Service

Play…

As a child I played with my teddy, played with cars, played marbles… played ludo… with a board, dice and counters… the Latin ‘ludo’ means ‘I play’… ‘I’m playing ludo’ is ‘I’m playing I play’.

Growing up I played the piano, played rugby, played monopoly. Now I play with bits of wood at ‘Men’s Shed’, play with plants in the garden, play with words as I speak and write…

…In the current ‘Partygate’ scandal, politicians played when they shouldn’t have been playing – and then denied that they had been playing…

Play and Work…

We’re told: ‘All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.’ ‘Work hard and play hard.’ Play is about relaxation and enjoyment… work is serious and purposeful – the two are different.

Children starting nursery school learn by playing – in the sand pit, with other children, through counting games. Play and work are the same thing.

Eistein said, ‘Play is the highest form of research.’ For research scientists… for some musicians, footballers, artists… play and work are the same thing.

Charles Darwin said: ‘A man who dares to waste one hour of time has not discovered the value of life. There’s nothing as intolerable as idleness.’ Darwin loved studying vultures, armadillos, fossils… Play and work were the same thing.

Play, Work and Service…

Distinctions become more complex when we consider good people serving others… the nurse, teacher, youth-club leader, Salvation Army Captain, night shelter volunteer… doing what they enjoy, working hard, serving others willingly…

Musing on… Good teachers I’ve worked with, Christian leaders I’ve learnt from, good parents creating a loving home… who don’t distinguish between which bits of play, work and service fit into which category…

Musing on…

…The words and example of Jesus… feeding the hungry, welcoming the stranger, caring for the sick… doing the right thing in the right way. For Jesus, work, play and service were all one…

…Jesus words: ‘Whatever you do… you do it for me, you do it to me.’