Clap your hands all you peoples; shout to God with loud songs of joy. (Psalm 47:1)
As a child we knew how to play, how to have fun. Our imaginations were wild, our dreams colorful and our energy exuberant. Later, as we grew up and children came into our lives, either our own or others, we again touched the exuberance of joy, watching as they view the world with fresh eyes.
Perhaps this is what Jesus meant by saying “Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the Kingdom of Heaven belongs.” (Matthew 19:14).
The Kingdom of Heaven is a Consciousness that can see through the temporal appearances and into the underlying substance that animates all life. This energy of God is available to all creation; we are blessed with the ability to consciously connect with this Source and express the qualities of Spirit.
Life becomes serious when we let the ego be in charge. The ego is a taskmaster and nothing ever is enough for it. The world does present to us many challenges that we must engage in and care about. Yet being too serious stops us from being effective.
It is like Jesus said; “You always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me.” (Matthew 26:11) What that means to me is that every generation faces opportunities to see beyond their personal selves and share their abundance with those less fortunate.
What you realize is that sharing, caring, supporting, empowering, puts one in the zone and brings on the Joy. To play in the “zone” is to put our ego in service to our True Spiritual Self, our God Self to play and express. When we finally stop trying to control the outcomes, the joy of being rises up and every activity becomes a form of play.
The book Veronica Decides to Die by Paulo Coelho is based on a true story about a young woman who decides to end her life, an existence that is tedious, without promise and lacking any future. Veronica has a change of heart and decides to stop being so serious and to dance every morning before she goes to work.
I like that idea. Tune into Life and let the Universal music shake us up, shake off the seriousness, shake off the stress, Let us clap our hands and sing and dance and be joyful.
Rev Janice
