Is that even spiritual?

Do you ever wonder if things that you do are even spiritual?

Do you ever feel guilty enjoying your favorite hobby?
Do you ever think you should be doing "more spiritual" things?

A lot has changed for me in the past few years. Some of my perspectives have changed. Perhaps I see things a bit differently now. Maybe clearer... Maybe more confused.

One thing I have been trying to learn is that this life is about the journey. What do we do when circumstances change for us? How do we adapt? What is it that we are to learn?

If you take an extremely good basketball player and throw him on the baseball field, he may or may not be very well prepared for the different kind of game.

You could take a person who focuses only on bench pressing and can lift 300 pounds of weight and then have him try to do leg lifts; he may only be able to lift a low weight amount.

A person well versed in theory of social issues could be thrown into a soup kitchen for a week and find herself completely overwhelmed with those she may come in contact with.

We get used to our environments and those around us; we use our strengths and try to hide our weaknesses. We try to make things comfortable for ourselves.

Then we get thrown a curveball.

Things begin to change. We react. We change. We reevaluate our priorities. We live.

But what do we learn?
Why do we do the things we do?
Why do we have these interests in seemingly frivolous things?
Why are we made individually the way we are?

I take a look around at my family, friends, and co-workers. No one is alike. We may have common interests or even blood lines, but each are unique. If all Christians are being made to be Christlike, wouldn't we all start having the same interests?

I'm beginning to see in a new light how our interests can help us. It sounds so simple. Perhaps I am just slow. To be honest, I used to think that as we "became more spiritual", we would stop "wasting" our time on our hobbies. I use my own life as an example: I loved sports, especially basketball. I played in a church league but it (ironically) got too violent. I shunned it. I liked watching sports games and going to them. That turned into "a waste of time." I enjoyed helping people with their computers. That turned into getting in the way of ministry. I loved traveling, seeing historical sites, and camping. Instead we went about ten years without any real vacation, and only went to church conferences or on missions trips. Those things were spiritual. Not basketball, not computers, not vacations.

As I have previously blogged, my family has gone through quite the season the last few years. I have a few interests now that have risen to the surface; the primary one is running. It may be running for me, but there is some hobby/interest/passion that each of us may have that seems unspiritual but we enjoy.

Could it be that God wants to do something in me through running?

Could He be teaching you something through your interests?

Could He be using your interests to connect you with people in a real way?

Are you listening?  Are you learning?