Snippet: Having Fun Together as a Spiritual Discipline in an Age of Anxiety

Snip·pet | ˈsnipit | noun a small piece or brief extract.

Here’s one from David French on the Good Faith with David French and Curtis Chang podcast:

“My parents gave me two great gifts and that was peace and joy. Our home was a place of peace. …There was an enormous amount of love within our family. And there was also joy. We had fun together.”

This occurs in a discussion about anxiety in our culture and the alarming increase of anxiety experienced by our youth.

French wonders how it would have been different for him if, in his home, his parents had radiated out anxiety about the direction of the world or nuclear war (the big fear when he was a kid).

I really think I need to start speaking of having fun with family and friends as a spiritual discipline. I’m not kidding.

If you don’t think it rises to that level, consider the spiritual fruit of joy (Galatians 5:22-28), and take a look at Deuteronomy 14:22-27. (Read v. 26 in the King James if you want a big surprise.) God is serious about joy and fun.

I don’t think this is the silver bullet, but it may be one of the most important things parents can work on for the sake of their kids and for their own hearts.

Photo by Kajetan Sumila on Unsplash