besides art and church

The question in the letter addressed to me was, "so what do you do socially besides art and church?" It was from a young man in prison whom I've been corresponding with for several months now. In my last letter I excitedly explained my interest in Celebrate Recovery and how I saw art in my life as a calling from God, in response to his earlier letters and questions he'd asked. But now came the reply with another question, and at first I had to laugh, because as I was reading it I reflected on the last 24 hours and the entire time was spent connected to one of those two categories! And then I realized the joke was on me because I could not think of anything else I really do do!

I wrote back to him in a joking tone, telling him anything I said would certainly sound like a very cheesy personal ad, such as "I love walking on the beach, watching old movies and smearing myself with butterscotch pudding..." I told him I really do like those things minus the pudding, but in truth it made me wonder what I actually do with my time. I work, I'm a mom and a wife and therefore busy by default anyway, my art does take up time and my involvement in specfically ministry-related (the church stuff) activities does about fill the 12 plus hours in a day. What was hard to explain to him, and I feel I can't yet in a way he would understand, that everything I have to do proceeds from one relationship, my relationship with Jesus Christ. I don't think of "my time" as my time. I have time where I relax-I like to ride my bike very slowly around town, and walk. That's about as exciting as it gets, besides my dumpster-diving, which I think is strictly an American phenomenon, and since he's not from here, it may not make any sense or make me look even more like a lunatic to him.

I guess maybe I do need to "get a life", but I really think I've already done that.