Some Time Off

Mark 6:31 "Then Jesus said, “Let’s go off by ourselves to a quiet place and rest awhile.” He said this because there were so many people coming and going that Jesus and his apostles didn’t even have time to eat."  NIV

Even Christ took time off to rest.  I have had to remind myself of that more than once.  In my crazy chaotic life, days and weeks and even months can go by without me having even a moment for myself.  And I am sorry but sweetheart getting a vacation and me taking days off so we can stay home together is just not the same as time to rest.  Because, as any woman who has a home will tell you, while everyone else is resting and relaxing, your still cooking and cleaning and taking care of things.  True rest is when you get to go somewhere and SOMEONE ELSE does the cooking, cleaning, and taking care of things.  I don't care how helpful your family is, all you can think about while "vacationing" at home is how much you should be doing. 

You sit down on the couch to watch a little tv with your sweetheart and notice that the coffee table needs to be emptied of last years magazines.  You take the magazines to the recycle bin and find it full.  You take out the recycling and notice that the mail lady came.  You take in the mail and remember that it's your aunt, grandma, cousin, friends, daughter, son's birthday and you need to find a card.  You go looking for a card and decide to reorganize the desk.  You notice how dusty the desk is and you start dusting all the furniture.  While dusting, you notice that there are dust bunny's under all the furniture so you drag out the vacuum.  And so on, and so on, and so on.  Soon your "vacation" is just like any other day.  And of course your family is so rested and relaxed because they are on vacation!

There is a  horrible festival in the town where my store is.  I would say that it is a great little tourist event but that would be a huge fib.  It's a drunken brawl that comes with these nasty little creatures called crawfish.  People come down and get absolutely hammered (drunk!) and then eat buckets of these icky things and leave the shells all over the streets, lawns, and porches of all the businesses.  There are no parking areas because the streets are filled with vendors and they even charge the merchants to park in their lots!  How bogus is that?  So my clients can't park, I can't park, and I throw up when I smell those icky crawfish cooking.  So what is a business owner to do?  Well I know what this business owner did.  I cleared my schedule and I am taking sweetheart to a bed and breakfast half a state away.

I have scheduled his and her massages, a picnic dinner by the river, and lots of reading time.  Someone else will cook for me, clean up after me, and take care of all the details.  What a heavenly time is will be.  I don't care if it rains, snows, hails, or the world comes to an end.  I am going to REST!  Now on the other hand, sweetheart will probably go stir crazy after the first day but do I look like I care?  Ok, well I do care but he will just have to suffer through it.  In the last couple of months we have done a wedding, a baby, a crisis or two or three, and we still have a wedding and two babies to go.  Our grandchildren will be here for the summer in less than a month.  This is my last chance at sanity before the next round of chaos begins.  So dear friends, I am going to do exactly as my Abba tells me to do and find time to find time for rest.  More details to come!