Snoozing Has Become My New Hobby

The Gracious Mistress Of The Parsonage asked me a question this past week. "Well, my dear, have you come up with a new hobby yet?"
 I've been retired for about four years. I have a weekly Sunday morning service at an assisted living facility, several writing projects on my desk, and I produced three weekly radio programs. When I officially retired, that's when The Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage said I needed to come up with some new hobby to occupy my time. When she asked me that question, I asked in return, "What is your definition of a hobby?" She hesitated for a moment and then said very sternly, "A hobby is something you do for fun." "Perhaps," I said with a twinkle in my eye, "my marriage to you is my primary hobby."
She had no reply to that, and so she walked away. That was four years ago, and I'm still doing the same things each week. Everything I do, I do for fun, if that's the definition of a hobby.
It is amazing how fast time flies by. You blink an eye, and a year has disappeared. I'm not sure where it goes, and I'll likely never find it. The one thing that has my attention is what I like to call "Snoozing." Before I retired, I didn't think much about it, and of course, I didn't do too much about it either. However, after four years, I have developed a wonderful hobby I call Snoozing.
The fantastic thing about snoozing is that you can do it just about anywhere. The place I can't do it is behind the steering wheel in my truck while I'm driving. But I can practice my new hobby anywhere else.
It was last week when The Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage asked me about my new hobby. "Do you have a new hobby for your retirement time?" I looked at her and said most sweetly, "Yes, my dear I do have a new hobby that I'm very excited about." Well, that excited her, "Oh, please tell me about your new hobby. Maybe we can do it together." "I call my new hobby Snoozing. It has taken me several years to practice it to perfection. And I must say I am very close to perfecting this new hobby."
"What?" she said. "How can snoozing be hobby?" "Don't you remember when I just retired you told me that a hobby was something you do for fun?" Of course, I knew I was talking to The Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage, who has quite a few hobbies. At the end of our house, she has a "craft room." I can’t tell all the stuff she does in that little room. I once walked into it and got lost, which took me three hours to find my way out. I'm not going to collaborate with her and her hobbies.
Everybody has a different view of their hobby, which they enjoy doing. When I was younger, I would never have considered snoozing to be a hobby. I had so many things to do, so little time to do them, that snoozing was never on my calendar.
 As I grow older, my energy has become limited. I have prepared myself for taking a short snooze in the morning, a longer snooze in the afternoon, and a short snooze right after dinner. I've never felt better than after finishing one.
Solomon said something that caught my attention. “There is nothing better for a man, than that he should eat and drink, and that he should make his soul enjoy good in his labour. This also I saw, that it was from the hand of God” (Ecclesiastes 2:24).
I have often been so caught up with work that there was no place in my life for laughter. I plan to make up for that in retirement. So far, I am making good on that.
Dr. James L. Snyder lives in Ocala, FL with the Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage. Telephone 1-352-216-3025, e-mail jamessnyder51@gmail.com, website www.jamessnyderministries.com.