Part 3, Chapter 31
Thank God for the springs in the workings of our garage doors. They make it so much easier to open and lift the heavy door. When they are broke or not working, or not even there it takes a greater effort to open the door. Sometimes when they break they do a little bit of damage because they are so, so tightly strung. The same goes for us, when we are high strung things not so good can happen. In these stressful situations we could even have a heart attack. So we need to do something to relax, to relieve the tension so that we are not ready to burst and yet we want this to be something healthy.
“Walking, harmless games, music, instrumental or vocal, field sports, etc. are such entirely lawful recreations that they need no rules beyond those of ordinary discretion, which keep everything within due limits of time, place, and degree” (Introduction to the Devout Life, 137). I really suggest prayer, exercise, and sleep to deal with stress as well as a good diet (I am working on some of these myself). These all help with stress. If our lives are full of stress and we are not dealing with it healthily, we could be opening ourselves for problems. “We need to occasionally relax the mind, and the body requires some recreation also” (Introduction to the Devout Life, 137). Though we do need to figure out what we can do which will relax us without getting us so agitated. “Only one must avoid excess, either in the time given to them, or the amount of interest they absorb” (Introduction to the Devout Life, 137). So often we get into activities that we spend hours doing, or there is so much focus on it. Many men get into fantasy football leagues to relax and they spend so much time doing it. They become obsessed with it. In the end, what was supposed to be relaxing makes them more stressed. This is something that we need to pay attention to.
In the end, there are questions that we should focus on to see if our recreation is helping us to relax and bring us closer to God. How much time is spent recreating? Are we more content after said relaxation activity or are we agitated and moody? Is said activity helping to restore the mind? Can we avoid doing the activity and do something else to relax? There are more questions that could be asked, but I think we get the picture. Relaxing is good, but we have to be careful with how we do it and what we do.