Created for Delight: How Hobbies Help Us Grow Spiritually with Brianna Lambert

What if the hobbies you love aren't distractions from your spiritual life—but places where God is already meeting you?

In this episode, Melie talks with author Brianna Lambert about her new book, Created to Play: How Taking Hobbies Seriously Grows Us Spiritually. Brianna shares why play is more than a break from productivity and how hobbies can cultivate faithfulness, humility, creativity, connection, and a deeper sense of awe.

Brianna also tells the powerful story of watching her family's camper van—and much of the equipment that made their favorite hobbies possible—burn on the side of the highway. In the difficult weeks that followed, simple acts of play like swimming, walking on the beach, and collecting shells became unexpected places of comfort and healing.

Together, Melie and Brianna explore the guilt many of us feel when we do something simply because we enjoy it, the pressure to turn every passion into a business or measurable achievement, and the quiet ways hobbies can help us reconnect with joy during burnout, grief, trauma, and other difficult seasons.

They also discuss:

How slow hobbies develop patience, persistence, and faithfulness

Why play can help settle the mind in seasons of suffering

How to discover a hobby when you don't consider yourself "crafty"

Why you don't need to be talented—or even stick with something forever

How to make room for play in small pockets of a busy life

The value of learning new hobbies alongside friends or family

How parents can encourage curiosity and creativity in their children