That Sounds Fun by Annie F. DownsSample

DAY 6 

Hobbies Make Space

Genesis 1:27; 1 Corinthians 12:4–6; 2 Corinthians 9:6–15

As I dined out with a group of my girlfriends, about eight of us total, I asked if any of them had any hobbies. We are mothers and wives, employees and employers, homeowners and home renters. We are churchgoers and church skippers. But that question silenced us. 

Some gals started stammering out some words, so I pulled out my phone and started taking notes. I was fascinated. The theme was the same around the table. It was like we all forgot hobbies were an option, but when we started to think back, yeah, we wanted one. Ashley wants to grow vegetables like she used to pick with her grandmother. She talked about the tomato sandwiches they would make. Someone else mentioned fishing, a thing none of us have ever discussed or considered as a social activity. But something happens when you start letting your brain’s Rolodex pull up the things that remind you of Eden.

Cooking. Gardening. Singing. Fishing.

Within minutes, the words died down again and it seemed like everyone went somewhere else in their mind. Back to Eden. Back to love. Back to when being an amateur was a simple celebration of life. And I think we all felt it. 

There is this opportunity, especially for people of faith, to partner with the God we serve to make things better on Earth. We were always meant to create. To create with God, to take the natural resources on our planet and in our hearts and put them together to make something that brings life and flourishing to ourselves and our neighbors. 

By definition, hobbies are activities “done regularly in one’s leisure time for pleasure.” I want to make a list of the things I can do that bring me joy and bring God glory. What about that list feels like a map to Eden? 

Hobbies make space. They remind us of something beautiful, and that good can come from nothing. That seeds become flowers and ingredients become soup and yarn becomes mittens. And when the whole world is broken, it’s just nice to know that the things that bring us joy might be the same things that help sew little pieces of the world back together.

How might you see a hobby not as a waste of time but as a work of co-creation with God?