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than the knowledge and skills of discursive thought. In the background, our play reorients us to the truth of reality. When we move our bodies for the joy of it, we uncover greater understanding about how God formed us body and soul. We’ re drawn into worship at God’ s majesty while we hike a trail. As we gaze out our window at the birds in our feeder or care for our fish, we encounter his creativity and love and remember our call to care for the earth. Hobbies quietly remind us that life isn’ t all about productivity or our curated identity. We exist in Yahweh’ s world— recipients of his rule, his order, his tender mercies, his plan, and his beauty. This reality exists independent of our effort; we only need to step into it. who revealed himself through Christ and the Scriptures continues to impart those same truths even through our play in his world. As Thomas Watson wrote,“ The world is a looking glass in
which we may see the power and goodness of God shine forth”( A Body of Divinity).
Adapted from Created to Play by Brianna Lambert. Copyright( c) 2026 by Brianna Janelle Lambert. Used by permission of InterVarsity Press. www. ivpress. com
We’ re used to believing knowledge comes only through what we’ d identify as hard work. Thomas Aquinas disagreed, saying virtue“ regards the good rather than the difficult”( Summa Theologica; emphasis mine). We have ample opportunity to learn virtue within the good hobbies we take part in every day. The God
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Brianna Lambert is a writer and author from a rural community outside Indianapolis. Her articles and essays have appeared in Christianity Today, The Gospel Coalition, Common Good, Mere Orthodoxy, and elsewhere. Brianna also serves on staff at Gospel- Centered Discipleship and writes for the women’ s ministry at her local church. You might find her backpacking, camping, waterskiing, or starting a brand-new hobby with her husband and three children. 17