Live It Up
Did you know that hobbies reduce stress, enhance your well-being, and can improve your overall mental health? Having something that you enjoy doing is good for your health and your mood! Hobbies can also challenge you to learn new skills and give you that feeling of accomplishment once completing the task.
So what is a hobby? A hobby is an activity that a person does for enjoyment. Maybe for you, it’s one of the following:
· Crafting
· Photography
· Art
· Collecting items
· Gardening
· Playing a musical instrument
For me, my hobbies include anything sports-related, taking my kids on a ride on the four-wheeler, and pretending to be a carpenter on projects around the house!
Hobbies do 3 things for us:
1. They challenge us to GROW
When I say I like to pretend to be a carpenter around the house, I mean that I am nowhere near qualified and most of the time have no idea what I am doing, but I love the idea and the process of trying to figure out how to fix whatever is broken. It challenges me to step out of my comfort zone and to research and figure out how to do something new. Whether that be fixing an irrigation leak, doing projects around the house, or working on the car, the feeling of accomplishment once something gets fixed or completed is like being on top of the world!
Maybe for you, it's learning how to read music so that you learn to play an instrument. Or learning photography so you can capture all those moments you don’t want to forget. Whatever it may be, these newfound skills can open new doors and opportunities. This can create a snowball effect that can take you to places that you never thought possible, all because of the growth doing something you enjoy does!
2. They help us find our GROUP
Every fall as the leaves change and the weather cools there is a newfound spirit of optimism in Norman, Oklahoma. On August 30th, 86,112 people will all converge on the Palace in the Prairie and after that first game will all be convinced that the Oklahoma Sooners are winning the National Championship this year. This optimism normally wavers around week 6 of the season but man, those first few weeks are fun! It’s in this unique way that hobbies, whether they be sports or something else, help you find your people.
Whether you find yourself connecting with a handful of people or over 86,000, hobbies can cultivate unique opportunities for you to be in circulation with people. It’s a way for you to be in the world, but not of the world. These opportunities often help us as Christians, get outside of our church bubble. This means that we get to leverage those connections to be a light on a hill, and let our light shine before others. In this way, the hobbies that we engage in can actually become a huge tool for us as we seek to Make Jesus Known!
3. They give us a reason to GLOW
Doing something we enjoy, affects our mood in a positive way. Proverbs 17:22 rings true on this subject… “A joyful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit dries up bones.” It can be so easy to get caught up in the mundane actions of life. Things like going to work, paying bills, and keeping a household maintained can fill up our calendars before we have a chance to engage in any hobbies. However, the value of having hobbies can’t be understated. When we lean into the hobbies we have, there is a reason to glow! We can find deep wells of joy in our lives by having fun doing the hobbies we have. The Bible isn’t short on giving us instructions to have fun! As a matter of fact, John 10:10 teaches us that Jesus came so that we could live life to the fullest! We see in places throughout the Bible that showcase the different skills and hobbies people had. King David played the harp and flexed some pretty killer songwriting skills that are showcased in the book of Proverbs.
No matter what your hobbies are, as long as they are God-honoring, go enjoy them and have fun living life to the fullest! Your glow will set you apart!