Vacation Days

What is it about vacation days that makes them fly by at something nearing the speed of sound? I am nearing the end of a second week of vacation and, suddenly, this morning realized that there are only four days left for me to 'relax' before getting back to the work-a-day world of ministry.

Don't get me wrong, I love the ministry to which I am called. I am one of the very blessed people of the world who have the privilege of doing every day what it is that they love to do, which by definition means that I do not have a 'job' but, rather, a 'vocation'. Yet, the thought of only a few days left before re-immersion in ministry leaves my head spinning and my heart wondering if it was all just a dream. It also makes me wonder if I have allowed the ministry, that vocation which I so love, to cloud over and make dreary the days I have been given to serve the God of my life.

The institutionalization of religion oft clouds the depth and wonder of faith. The mundurnity of the day-in, day-out paperwork, service preparations, occasional services, visitations, networking, and oversight of staff while serving in a solo pastorate, makes long and sometimes monotonous the time we are given to proclaim the wonders of Jesus Christ. Not that every day has to be a walk in the park, but it gives me pause in my life when I realize that so few of my days are a walk in the park with the Savior of my life or, for that matter, in the love of my family. Time spent on the mountain, in a place apart with Jesus and family, should not be the exception in our days, but the rule. When the joy of God's calling in my life becomes the burden, I have missed the mark of loving obedience to the Christ of my faith and have, instead, given myself over to, " . . . the powers and principalities of this world" (to paraphrase the Apostle Paul).

I cannot believe that God has created the world and all the wonders therein to become the ball and chain of humanity's existence. Neither can I subscribe to the notion that Jesus ever intended discipleship to become a loathsome experience. The Christ of our faith, the God of our salvation, the Spirit of our soul, calls humanity . . . you and me . . . to live the delicate dance of self-giving and self-realizing in the midst of shared journey with others. Too much time spent in either dimension deadens the joy of our time in Christ and extends beyond our reach the nearness of the Kingdom Jesus gives His life that we might know.

Four more days of vacation . . . and a lifetime of wonder in Christ. That is the balance I pray to keep, so that at the end of my days I not be found praying more for the 'peace of eternal rest', than anticipating the ongoing joy of life in my Savior.

Your servant in Christ,

Pastor Don