Spiritual Vacation

Last month my family and I went on vacation for a week in Myrtle Beach SC. During the trip we decided that it would be a totally stress free trip where we were basically be free to do what we wanted without demands and pressures from family, time or work/school. Anytime someone reverted back to the old ways of worrisome clock watching or trying to over plan things, one of us would say "its okay we're on vacation!"

My oldest son who is seven really milked this phrase "we're on vacation". Eating ice cream for breakfast, its ok we're on vacation. not working on his homework packet...we're on vacation! Laying around watching TV til mid afternoon, its ok, we are on vacation! We even planned an extra day in between vacation and when we would be back to work and school so that we would have a gear up day to get ready for a return to the life we normally live.

This led me to thinking about spiritual things. I have thought about the many times I and others I know have taken a spiritual vacation. A time where either by accident or by design I chose not to follow God or at least to withdraw from the spiritual routines I have developed and tried hard to keep with much discipline. During these vacations from our friendship and walks with God I have found that I get into the most trouble. Temptation is as great as that all you can eat buffet that is in abundance in Myrtle Beach. I think, why I believe it would be nice to try some of this today, or maybe that. Why do I like eating this all the time? It doesn't really taste that good anymore. Or we see an old favorite we haven't had since the last vacation, and we indulge with a vengeance. Just like after vacation from our lives here on earth usually results in our need to lose a few pounds or remember how to accomplish things before 7 AM when we return, when people take spiritual vacations far worse consequences abound. Do I need to state some of them or can you fill in your own blanks?

So I leave you with this thought: WHAT IF a spiritual vacation was what we did to escape from the daily grind and not what we did when we were fleeing from God? We could turn this negative concept into a daily positive routine that was used to get us closer to the Lord and further from the stress that comes with living in a fast paced America culture. WHAT IF...?