Play ‘as if’

Pretending

Sometimes play is pretending.

Pretending you are in a gang of pirates causing mayhem on the high seas.

Pretending you are Beyoncé at a fancy dress party.

Putting on an accent and pretending you are from Wales when you grew up in Wigan.

We play ‘as if’ something were true that usually isn’t true.

This is how children explore the roles they may take on when they are older.

They play with reality, figuring out the boundaries of the social world.

They play ‘as if’ they were mummy and daddy and when they do they are learning a little of what it means to be a mummy or a daddy.

But sometimes also children push the boundaries of the social world to create new boundaries.

I remember playing one Christmas Day with my primary-aged niece and nephew and I was asked to pretend I was having a baby while they acted as if they were a pair of skilled obstetricians. The baby when it came out was represented by a large photo of my niece as a toddler in a rectangular picture frame. That representation of reality shattered the boundaries of my imagination, and made me laugh so hard my niece and nephew just stared as if I’d suddenly turned into the Gruffalo.

I think living a life of faith is a bit like playing ‘as if’.

I can’t prove a divine being created me or the world, but I can act as if it were true, and through the humble work of Spirit my current boundaries of selfhood can be extended and I can grow up more into the sense of belovedness that belongs to the mature Christian life.

I can’t prove Jesus was God in human form and set an example for all humanity in the way he lived his life. But I can live my life as if this were a fact and through cooperative participation with Spirit grow up to be more like him.

I can’t prove the Holy Spirit lives inside me and guides me, but I can live as if that is true and I can trust the path I’m on, however surprising or hard it might be, and grow more and more into living its twists and turns with peace and joy.

Perhaps in all our attempts to follow the way of Jesus we are beloved children at play, acting ‘as if’ the truth were true, and slowly growing into its reality.

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When and where do you play ‘as if’?

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‘There was some one thing that was too great for God to show us when He walked upon our earth; and I have sometimes fancied that it was His mirth.’ G K Chesterton