Abigail's Alcove: The Need for Recreation

Here is what I'm doing tonight for the first time since 1996, taking a fencing lesson! My husband is actually coming home from work early so that can drive to another town to start fencing. I can't think of a more romantic gesture for a Mom in the middle of a colic battle with our youngest child. He is amazing!

The budget is tight in the Benjamin household and I am an extreme couch potato. Sports has never really been my "thing." However, fencing is not a post-baby gym workout for me. Fencing is one of the coolest activities ever invented.

Here's what I learning this month--Recreation is vital to a spiritual warrior. My bff St. Teresa of Avila made it mandatory for her Carmelite convents--and remember these are the girls who wore horse blankets for habits! Fluff wasn't exactly on their daily schedule.

Here's what I've finally started to discover in my fifth year of nursing colicky babies. Recreation is not "blowing off steam" after a hard day of mothering. Recreation isn't date night. Recreation isn't "Me Time". Recreation isn't selfish.

Not really sure what a holy "recreation time" looks like, other than a small but important part of my week where I get to shrug off the demands of my vocation and do something that I enjoyed purely for fun as a young girl. My husband has found fishing recently. ?He comes back from his fishing trips with an extra sparkle in his eye. I hope I get the same lift from my Fencing Class tonight! But I know if it isn't Fencing, my recreation time will be something else.

God doesn't want me to have fun in every moment (gotta to get those spiritual muscles in shape somehow) but He does want me to have a reliable bit of spiritually healthy fun in some moments.

Source: http://abigails-alcove.blogspot.com/2012/07/the-need-for-recreation.html

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