On Vacations and How “Rest” is Hard Work

(The following is a reprint from a Pastor’s Note to my congregation.)

“Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their hosts. And by the seventh day God completed His work which He had done; and He rested.” (Genesis 2:1-2a)

Well, my vacation starts in just about an hour and a half this morning, my brothers and sisters.

(I hope I don’t seem too anxious during my sermon and rush. You can tell me if I did!)

And I’ve preached on the importance of taking breaks and getting the proper rest and getting “away from it all” in the past, you might remember.

But you know, I don’t always practice what I preach!

How many of you understand it’s one thing to tell others they need to do this and they mustn’t do that, but then when it comes to your own life, well.

It’s so easy to give ourselves a pass, isn’t it?

But before I leave I thought I might talk about how even our vacations have become “work” for us.

Think about it.

Is it true for you like it is for me?

You pack your suitcases.

And then you drive the 2 1/2 hours from here to the nearest airport.

(That’s what it is to Sacramento – or so!)

And then it’s a 3 1/2 hour flight to wherever it is you’re going (depending on your destination – it’s 3 1/2 hours to Minneapolis).

And then by the time you check into your hotel (or wherever it is you’re staying), you’re nothing short of dog gone beat.

(I hope that isn’t a swear word. I don’t think it is.)

And why are you dog gone beat?

Well, it’s because you’re on vacation!

No!

It’s because you’ve been “working” all day on your way to your vacation!

And maybe you can relate to the following as well.

And it’s not always a vacation when you have three small kids with you and you’re a mom or a dad (or a grandma or grandpa – or great grandma or great grandpa)!

Right?

The bottom line of it all, my friends, we need to work hard (there I said “work” again!) to rest.

We need to work hard to rest.

“Rest” is hard work!

Some of us just need to make ourselves sit!

It’s important to the entirety of our lives.

We become dull when we don’t take a break.

And a dull tool is much more likely to do injury versus being a help.

You can’t much cut a tomato with an unsharpened knife!

And so this “dull” one (I hope you haven’t thought that too much about me!) is heading out for some much needed rest.

Pray for me (if you think about it) that I can make myself sit!

(A Northwest Airlines McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30 picture file above is in the public domain: click here.)

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