Dr. Cindy Rigby was one of my theology professors at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary and one of my most significant influences during my years there as a student. On a number of occasions, I remember her saying something really wise about play, rest, and renewal, and I still think about it from time to time. I’m going to paraphrase her here so this isn’t an exact quote, but it’s close to her point. She said,
“So often we think about play, rest, renewal, and Sabbath as recreation, time away from the rat race… an extended period of time when we leave that rat race behind so we can rest up and then re-enter it again a bit more rejuvenated. But… what if play, rest, renewal, and Sabbath can be re-creation? So that they create us in new ways and actually change us? So that we don’t re-enter the same way? What if they change the rat race itself?”
That’s really wise. I want this re-creation. I imagine we all do.
There are times when we step away from typical rhythms and we are re-created in a way… with new hopes, and new commitments toward better rhythms, and new priorities (or actually this could be is a return toward…) the priorities that have been there all along but not tended to as well as they could be.
Re-creation is a possibility for us.
Smuggling Grace 