Vacation. It sounds so lovely – vacating our homes and our workplaces, leaving stresses, jobs, and chores behind. That thought alone makes it enticing.
But leaving to go someplace better is even more tantalizing. When you live in the mountains, maybe a beach sounds good. Or if your home is in a rural area, a city with all its lights, bustle, and things to do may be just the thing. Perhaps traveling from a metropolis to a quiet place in the middle of nowhere is your idea of heaven.
Getting ready for vacation takes more work than the actual time away. When I worked in corporate America, I had to predict what might come up during my vacation and prepare for it, work ahead, and get a backup to cover my customers. There were times the person covering for me didn’t do a good job and I ended up cleaning up his mess when I returned. So much for enjoying my vacation!
It would be great if there were a way for us to bring our vacation feel to our homes and jobs. But that week or two of rest is soon forgotten when we get back into our rut of everyday life. The other 50 weeks would be more bearable.
King David gives us an idea in his Psalms about how to maintain that feeling of rest. More than once he tells us that he rests in the Lord. The Lord is constant: the same yesterday, today, and always. That’s something we don’t leave at home when we travel and we don’t need to pack for vacation. He’s always with us.
So how do we rest in the Lord? Well, most of us have a tendency to worry about things that never happen, and get stressed over what might be: bad weather, stock market drop, or illness. My husband used to say that 90% of what we worry about never comes to pass, so he kept worrying. That way, he was assured that those bad things wouldn’t happen.
But telling God about our worries and letting him take them can help us relax. He has more authority and ability to handle what concerns us, so why not let him?
If you’re like me, you probably tell God about a problem and give him the answer you want from him. Maybe there’s more than one solution that you could live with, so you make it multiple choice. I’m sure God laughs when he sees our ideas, when he has something so much better in mind so he chooses “None of the above.”
Try resting, really resting in the Lord and see if you can get that “vacation feeling” with less stress and worry without leaving home. It’s worth a try. And it might add a few years to your life, too!
