Is there room for fun in the spiritual life?

I’m spending a week away on vacation with my family – three adult children, their spouses and partners, and two grandchildren. I can’t help but focus my attention on these two boys, ages four-and-a-half and two-and-a-half. They are all boy, and almost everything they do is an adventure.

Monster trucks. Shiny rocks. Long walks with Granda and Gigi. A caterpillar on the gravel road. Picking daisies to bring home to their mother. Making a long beard out of moss.

They seem to approach life with one simple question: How much fun can we have with whatever is in front of us?

In an environment where there is always something happening and very little routine, my own devotional practices sometimes take a hit. And it made me wonder: Is this a distraction from my spiritual life, or actually part of it?

Of all the unlikely people I could turn to for an answer, Thomas Aquinas came to mind.  Aquinas taught that human beings need recreation. Just as the body needs rest from physical labor, the soul needs rest from serious activity. He even considered play a virtue, writing:

“It is necessary to employ some kind of play or jest, whereby the soul’s tension is relaxed.”  (ST II–II, Q.168, Art.2)

That struck me.

I meet with many people for spiritual direction who return from vacation with a little guilt: “I didn’t get to journal.” “I missed my morning prayer.” “I couldn’t focus during my Lectio.”

I sometimes hear the same voice in myself.

But perhaps there are times when God is inviting me to lighten my usual devotions and simply attend to the moment.  That is what my grandsons are teaching me this week.

What could be more spiritual than a pillow fight on the couch? Playing monsters in the bunk beds? Exploring a gravel road for treasures? Laughing until we can hardly catch our breath?

I wonder: What if I approached prayer the way my grandsons approach each new day: I can hardly wait to see what happens!

Perhaps instead of beginning prayer with, “God, come to my assistance,” I could sometimes begin with, “God, let me delight in your presence. Let me see your smile.  Let’s have some fun together!”

My grandchildren can hardly wait to get out of bed and be with Granda and Gigi.  And perhaps the same way I need to approach morning prayer.  “God, I can hardly wait to awaken and spend some time with you.”