MORE VACATION!!!

LH and I are looking forward to 1 more week of vacation next week as we plan to head to the Windy City and the Lake House in Wisconsin. I will be so glad to see my sister and BIL again. One added bonus, my niece will be there as well for the weekend!! Back from the craziness of LA to the flatness of rural central IL as she begins Med School. Not much rock climbing there! It will be good to see her in person and not just hear her voice breaking up on the cell.
I am preparing myself to lose at the annual Croquet game, it has become a family tradition. I actually am starting to look forward to losing!!!
Sports was never my forte. I was always too klutsy and not all that competitive.
I just wanted to play for fun. It can be fun to win, but just playing the sport is fun. I fail to see that on many athlete's faces any more.
And although I got my swimmer's badge at age 9, was the youngest in the test class and put in a lane closest to the pool's edge (in case I had a problem!)and I came in fourth out of 6 or 7 only to be approached to be on the swim team, I declined.
I didn't want deprive myself of the delight and pleasure of swimming by having to compete. It would've sucked the joy right of swimming for me.
Later, in High School, I did join the Synchronized Swim Team and had a blast with it, especially the shows we put on. It wasn't the competitive, precision, mechanical thing it is now. We learned new and different stunts, choregraped them to music and made costumes and just had fun. It was wonderful.
So, I don't have to win at Croquet, I just want to enjoy playing the game and being with my family.
Maybe, that's how it should in relationship with God. It's not about winning, it's about simply being with God for the sheer delight of it and to love God. It's not about who has the biggest church, who does the most mission, who has the slickest programs, etc. I keep hoping that our church members would catch on "are we having fun, yet" in our faith with God and in our faith community. Can we not enjoy our faith, our calling as Christians, as Presbyterians? Shouldn't we be having fun in our life together in Christ? I think we need to recover the sheer delight of being in God's love and to take a rest from beating ourselves up and over with certain issues that the church cannot bear at this time. Let's get back to the love of our Lord and somehow, it will work out as it needs to in God's time not ours.
Onward to my Croquet game...