Vacation begins with the word vacate. We begin by wrapping up at work or home and heading out of town. Set up a tent, take a flight, or get on a boat. Take leave. Get out.
Vacations are not just about fun. Oh sure we build sand castles, play golf, hike a mountain. But there is more than just catching up on sleep and relaxing. You also catch up with friends or savor some family time. But still there is more to a good vacation than just getting away and entertaining ourselves.
What makes for a truly good vacation? I think that even the ancient followers of God struggled with this question. When Moses gives the 10 commandments, each command takes up about one line or verse. But the commandment to rest occupies four verses. Somehow they needed to be convinced that resting was not a waste of time.
All summer, Dave and I have been looking forward to going to the beach with all our kids and grandkids. Now that the day has drawn near, I wonder if it will be all we dreamed it would be. After that I will spend time in the mountains at a monastery alone. I’m already wondering if I will ‘accomplish’ all I want to during that week of “rest.”
So I am trying to remember, and maybe you need to remember it too, that God calls us to pause every so often. The poet David White wrote that “We withdraw, not to disappear, but to find another ground from which to see.”
Praying for all of us to find that ground,
Carla
