I’ve had a few months of consistent blogging but last week I took a week off. We decided to take the boys camping for a few days during Spring Break. It was awesome.
Sometimes I get so wrapped up in getting the work done, or getting the writing done, it’s hard to take a step back and just stop. The plate of life gets so full stuff starts falling off the edges. You get so tired you end up accidentally using the gravy as salad dressing… Sigh…
There are different kinds of rest we need. A vacation, like camping, can be so beneficial in all these areas. We all need physical, mental, emotional and spiritual rest. I’m not talking about retirement, or a “lifestyle of leisure”, but about recognizing when you’ve been going too hard for too long without a break and taking an intentional rest.
Everything wears out with time, but rest has a way of renewing focus and purpose. It’s why we need good sleep every night and weekends off, but it’s also why we need larger chunks of rest like vacations.
King David outlined this beautifully in the first few verses of Psalm 23.
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. (mental rest)
He makes me lie down in green pastures. (physical rest)
He leads me beside still waters. (emotional rest)
He restores my soul. (spiritual rest)
Mental Rest – The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
We think a lot of thoughts every day. A quick google search nets a few different articles that claim anywhere from 12,000 – 80,000. I don’t know about the validity of all that and most of those articles sight no source. So here are my thoughts on our thought lives.
There’s typical daily thoughts… get coffee, write for an hour(lots of thoughts here), what to wear, what’s for breakfast, don’t forget to take your vitamins, what time is it? Gotta be on time for school, make sure the kids are ready, take them to school, go to work, look at current projects, think about how to complete them, think about dinner for the night, think about my husband and wonder how his day is going, think the same about my kids. I listen to KWave all day so with Pastoral teaching in the background all day I’m thinking about the word, how it applies to my life, to my friends, I think about certain people and often pray for them. All of that weaves in and out while I’m thinking about the project I’m working on. If I hit a trouble spot in my project then I have to really focus and think of a solution.
Then there’s all the worry type thoughts… Am I gonna get enough hours at work this week, I hope it doesn’t rain, I hope we don’t get sick, I hope the car doesn’t break down, I hope dinner turns out good, I hope the kids new shoes last longer than 3 weeks.
Then there’s the fear thoughts… The ones we have in the quiet, in the dark, right before we fall asleep… I’m not good enough… I can’t do this… I feel like a phony… What if my prodigal never comes back to the Lord… My parents are getting old… What if they die… What if I die… What if my husband dies… What if my kids die… What if my husband gets laid off… What if we lose everything…
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure,whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Philippians 4:8
Vacations, camping or otherwise, help us get back to living in the moment. It’s a change of scenery, we think new fresh thoughts. It gets us out of our regular routine and clears the cobwebs. The thoughts that stress us out may not go away completely, but they quiet down and get in the back seat for awhile. On vacation I don’t have to troubleshoot a work project. While spending extra time with my family I don’t have to wonder how their day is.
Physical Rest – He makes me lie down in green pastures.
For me last week this looked like a lot of sitting around the campfire and taking a slow stroll through Old Town Temecula. I write every morning, work full time and I usually Crossfit 3 – 4 days a week. It was so good to just let my body rest, especially after participating in the Crossfit Open (a series of 5 very intense weekly workouts). I got more of a natural workout, packing and then setting up camp, but once that was done I was largely free to just hang out and enjoy my husband and kids.
I cook most of the meals when we camp, but even that is different than at home when I have very little time in the evening between work and bedtime to cook a meal and feed the family. Camp cooking is fun, and especially great when you’re just sitting around the fire stirring the stew every once in awhile. And come on, truth is everything tastes better with a little camp dirt in it. And percolator coffee beats drip anyday.
Emotional Rest – He leads me beside still waters.
Something as simple as being away from our daily commute and crazy drivers on the road can relieve so much of the anger we feel on a daily basis. Traffic is upsetting.
Life can also become emotional hide-and-seek. We have feelings we are afraid to show and share so we hide them. The constant stress of that can definitely take a toll on our relationships and health. I’m not saying vacation makes these hard things go away, but it can give us the time we need to regroup and see things from a different angle.
You don’t have to hide from God emotionally. He created your feelings, but the enemy has a way of turning our emotions into unproductive tantrums. Instead of seeking God in an emotional storm we lash out at the ones we love the most. Or we go the other way and shut down, making ourselves emotionally unavailable to our spouse and kids.
If we are feeling lonely and disconnected from spouse and kids a family vacation can put us back in emotional connection. You work hard and hustle every day because you love your spouse and kids, but maybe when you get home you’re so emotionally drained there’s not much left. Vacation and even weekends can give us time to settle down and give ourselves emotionally to the people we really love most. They need it, and we do too.
If you come home from work every day emotionally drained it might be time to plan a vacation. It might be time to seek some counsel and prayer with a trusted friend. It might even be time to go alone to the mountain and pray like Jesus often did.
Spiritual Rest – He restores my soul.
I know it’s corny, but camping and being out in nature, enjoying God’s creation, can do wonders for us spiritually. It reconnects us so simple living. When Jesus says in Matthew 6 to “look at the birds” and the “consider the lilies of the field” so we can see how God is taking care of us, what better place to do that than the wilderness?
Many of us are are serving in one way or another at a local church or in some sort of ministry. It’s easy to slip into serving every week and neglect our own spiritual relationship with God in favor of spiritual activity. Basically we subconsciously say, “God I’m so busy serving you I don’t have time to pray and read the word.”
“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-29
The whole point of being a Christian is following Christ. King David knew the voice of his Shepherd, the Good Shepherd. He doesn’t drive us like cattle, but leads us, calling us by name. If the voice of your Shepherd has been drowned out by the worry and hustle of daily life I encourage you to take some time this weekend to spend some quiet time in the word and let him restore your soul.
I love to hear from you! Tell me in the comments about a time you went camping or had a great vacation.
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