By David Hegg
Usually, when we think about vacations, we anticipate “getting away” from the things that normally occupy us. The whole idea is to escape, to “vacate” our ordinary lives in order to rest, relax, enjoy and just generally refuel. And what I often find is that these unscheduled hours and days offer a wonderful opportunity to reconnect with those values that make life satisfying.
In the delightful film “What About Bob,” a famous psychiatrist suggests that Bob “take a vacation from your problems.” Besides being funny, the movie takes the audience to the intersection where vacation and the challenges of living in a fast-moving, emotionally challenging society meet. And while I put this movie in my top 10 all-time film experiences, I would have given Bob different advice. I think vacations are the perfect time to consider our lives – even our challenges – and re-examine what we hold as the foundational commitments of our lives.
Vacations offer an excellent vantage point on our lives. We can get away and stand above our daily ins and outs. We become spectators of the way we are living, the decisions we are making, and the results so far. Often, this allows us time to contemplate whether the direction we’re going in and the attitudes we’re adopting are beneficial for us and our families.
Vacations also provide time for listening to other voices. This often means reading several books I’ve just not had time to open during the year. It also means having time to talk with my wife and intentionally reflecting on how we deal with life’s changes and the opportunities we face. And on our best vacations, it means spending time with good friends we don’t regularly get to enjoy because of geography. And, of course, vacations always allow extended times of unhurried hours for private prayer and meditation on God’s word, the Bible.
I would be remiss if I didn’t suggest that vacations are also a time to remember what it means to rest and breathe. In today’s noisy, fast-paced, tech-driven, and efficiency-demanding world, we need help unplugging. Years ago, Tim Hansel wrote a fascinating book titled, “When I Relax, I Feel Guilty.” Let’s face it: We’ve largely forgotten how to be alone with our thoughts. We can hardly navigate one day without screens, podcasts, or newspapers.
I’ve recently been blessed with the birth of two grandsons. And, as every good parent knows, babies need to learn to calm themselves, work through waking up in the middle of the night, and go back to sleep. In the same way, we adults must be able to exist without outside stimuli or influence. Yet, we’ve almost completely lost the ability to sit, reflect, perhaps engage in meaningful conversation with those closest to us, and … wait for it … genuinely relax, marvel at the beauty around us, and go to that mental place where we realize life is good. It’s called rest, and vacations can remind us how great it feels and how desperately we need it daily.
I have found that the combination of loving relationships, fresh information, genuine reflection, mental and physical rest, and ample time to enjoy them all is a powerful engine for refreshment and renewal. It also happens to be a catalyst for creativity. That’s why I would have encouraged Bob to lean into his vacation and his problems and see if the combination allowed for fresh insights and plausible solutions.
So my advice is to make the most of your vacation, no matter how short your time. Be intentional about using some time to read, think, reflect and reassess. If you do, I think you’ll come back to your ordinary life believing that it is, in reality, extraordinary. After all, the best thing about vacation is realizing that the life to which you are returning is both exciting and satisfying.
This column is a bit shorter than usual, and there’s a good reason. I’m on vacation, and I need to get back to the hammock, where I’ve recently developed a hybrid form of reading that incorporates napping into periods of reflection.
Local resident David Hegg is senior pastor of Grace Baptist Church. “Ethically Speaking” appears Sundays.
