Our vacation is more than half over – so far so good. Vermont is beautiful in many ways, we have lucked into some genuinely enjoyable experiences and living in the same house with 18 people isn’t as difficult as you might think. In fact it is truly nice to be in such close proximity to family for an extended period of time for a change, Kyle is especially enjoying this time with family.
Even still, it has to be said that vacation is not the good life; neither are the weekends for that matter. I remember a song from the early eighty’s by Loverboy called, “Everybody’s Working for the Weekend.” It is one of those horrible songs that get stuck in your head and keep you awake at night; I hate those songs! But it seems to me that too many of us are doing just that. We get to work early on Monday morning and immediately start counting down until the blowing of the whistle on Friday evening and then sometime Sunday afternoon a feeling of dread sets in as we perceive the creep of time as Monday morning; without our permission I might add; invariably approaches. And as far as vacations go, no sooner do we get home from this year’s trip, than we start daydreaming about next year’s trip, if we can afford one next year. We get back from our week to two-week dalliance with the good life and resign ourselves to another year of drudgery.
It might seem oxymoronic to say this but I’ll say it anyway – time off is not the good life! And while it’s true that time off and rest are good and necessary things; they are in part what the Sabbath is about. Still, we were created for so much more than a break every now and then. Jesus said that He came to give us abundant life, and if that can’t happen everyday, well then you can hardly call it abundant. Jesus also made it clear that the thief comes to steal, kill and destroy, and if our highest aspirations are only to reach our next time off, then truly he has done it successfully. That is he has stolen our joy, killed our purpose and destroyed our potential.
Life with God is the good life and it is available to all of us, right now, with the families that we have and with the jobs that we have. And that means that you don’t have to relocate, quite your job or leave your family in order to experience it. You might need a change of perspective but you don’t need to lose weight or have “Botox” injections to have it. Because, you find the good life wherever you find God and God is everywhere, even in your areas of hurt.
It is time that we pursue the good life by pursuing God first, most and always. The old song said it well when it said, “turn your eyes upon Jesus, and the things of world will grow strangely dim.” The things we do in our day-to-day lives are the building blocks of the good life because it is there that we come into contact with our daily need for God’s grace and His presence. It is there that we are most likely to encounter people who have been beaten and left for dead by this world and therefore in need of a “Samaritan” to walk by and bind up their wounds. And it’s there in our desperate moments of weakness that we experience His strength being sufficient for us. And that’s why I believe that God would have us passionately enjoy our vacations and our times off, even while we passionately love our everyday lives. The good life is everyday life.
Even still, it has to be said that vacation is not the good life; neither are the weekends for that matter. I remember a song from the early eighty’s by Loverboy called, “Everybody’s Working for the Weekend.” It is one of those horrible songs that get stuck in your head and keep you awake at night; I hate those songs! But it seems to me that too many of us are doing just that. We get to work early on Monday morning and immediately start counting down until the blowing of the whistle on Friday evening and then sometime Sunday afternoon a feeling of dread sets in as we perceive the creep of time as Monday morning; without our permission I might add; invariably approaches. And as far as vacations go, no sooner do we get home from this year’s trip, than we start daydreaming about next year’s trip, if we can afford one next year. We get back from our week to two-week dalliance with the good life and resign ourselves to another year of drudgery.
It might seem oxymoronic to say this but I’ll say it anyway – time off is not the good life! And while it’s true that time off and rest are good and necessary things; they are in part what the Sabbath is about. Still, we were created for so much more than a break every now and then. Jesus said that He came to give us abundant life, and if that can’t happen everyday, well then you can hardly call it abundant. Jesus also made it clear that the thief comes to steal, kill and destroy, and if our highest aspirations are only to reach our next time off, then truly he has done it successfully. That is he has stolen our joy, killed our purpose and destroyed our potential.
Life with God is the good life and it is available to all of us, right now, with the families that we have and with the jobs that we have. And that means that you don’t have to relocate, quite your job or leave your family in order to experience it. You might need a change of perspective but you don’t need to lose weight or have “Botox” injections to have it. Because, you find the good life wherever you find God and God is everywhere, even in your areas of hurt.
It is time that we pursue the good life by pursuing God first, most and always. The old song said it well when it said, “turn your eyes upon Jesus, and the things of world will grow strangely dim.” The things we do in our day-to-day lives are the building blocks of the good life because it is there that we come into contact with our daily need for God’s grace and His presence. It is there that we are most likely to encounter people who have been beaten and left for dead by this world and therefore in need of a “Samaritan” to walk by and bind up their wounds. And it’s there in our desperate moments of weakness that we experience His strength being sufficient for us. And that’s why I believe that God would have us passionately enjoy our vacations and our times off, even while we passionately love our everyday lives. The good life is everyday life.
Blessings,
PB
1 comment:
Happiness is not dependant on people, places, situations. It comes from within or not at all. Vacations prove this out. People in the "magic kingdom" are not all happy smiling people. Nor are all the people involved with hospice all despairing and crying. Jesus offers the peace the passes all understanding. J. Carvin
Post a Comment