Vacation is coming up the end of this week. I usually do vacation by going as hard as I can, as long as I can. Fishing, hiking, boating, viewing wildlife, identifying wildflowers - that's all part of my summer vacation. And it goes from before sunup until after sundown. I don't want to waste a single minute!
Not this year. This year, I'm planning to incorporate a fair amount of Sabbath time into my vacation. Time to let my body rest, as well as time to let my brain and my emotions get some rest. Time to read some, relax some, play some, sleep enough, really get rested. When I get restless, I can always grab the pole and hike out to the Gros Ventre River to fish. I usually don't catch anything there - but there are bank beavers, and I can watch kingfishers and swallows. The canoe is coming with, so there will be time on the oxbow to see pelicans, sandhill cranes, osprey, maybe even some otters - and always a beaver or two. Even moose, if we're lucky.
There will be afternoon thunderstorms and bright, sunny mornings. The road to camp will be covered with bison - unless they've already moved on. We're even talking about a canoe trip on String and Leigh Lakes. There's good fishing there, and there are always mergansers with babies on String Lake. Active - yes. But also time to simply relax, just be, simply experience the beauty that always surrounds us when we go to the Grand Tetons. Time to sit on a beach, sit in a canoe, sit in camp. Time to read a book, read the game trails, read the waters. Time to watch the skies, watch the Perseids meteor shower, watch the wonder that surrounds us. From the tiniest wildflower to the grandest Teton - we watch everything intently, and with gratitude.
Rest. Time away. Time to simply be, and to be thankful. Real Sabbath time calls me into a thankfulness I don't always enter otherwise. Real Sabbath time - on vacation, or simply on a day off, reminds me of the rest God entered into on the seventh day, blessing it, and declaring it holy. It is a holy and a sacred thing to rest. Our culture doesn't always recognize this. I don't always recognize this. But when I do recognize it, I am able to enter into thanksgiving, praise, and an openness to the presence of God in my life that sustains me, that brings me rest. God grant me wisdom, to always set aside time for Sabbath!
