Escape to a Vacation!

Each summer of my childhood our family packed suitcases and made a trek to an island in the straits of Lake Huron. My grandparents had been raised on the island, as had my father and his brothers and sister. We had cousins galore. Even though, I didn’t grow up on the island, I felt connected. To this day, when I step foot on the Island, I feel the very earth reaching out to welcome me home.

I loved my grandma’s and grandpa’s house – the smell of a pot of soup bubbling on the woodstove, my grandma’s old-fashioned china tucked in the cabinet, the front room overlooking the lake with my grandma’s bottle collection lining the walls, and the stone front steps where you could sit and watch the freighters pass. Snakes often were basking on the stone front steps as well. Upon awakening, a grandchild would find, grandma and grandpa at opposite ends of the small kitchen table drinking their morning coffee, with water heated from the old wood stove. The upstairs bedroom with all its nooks and crannies could be a bit spooky. There was a pair of bunk beds and three cots. All the cousins would sleep there together. There was also a secret cupboard that stored old games and books. Bats sometimes flew around at night and would get inside a bedroom.

At times when I have trouble falling asleep at night, I remember their house and pretend that I am transported there. I comfort myself by walking slowly through the rooms in my mind, remembering the sights and smells of old apples, stale beer, and stiff laundry just removed from the line with an aroma of sunshine, fresh air and detergent.

Photo byDaniil VnoutchkovonUnsplash

In our culture we take vacations – breaks from our daily routines. We often leave our home to either explore a place different than our home or to visit others, like family.

In the scriptures, Mary is first visited by the angel Gabriel. She then visits her cousin Elizabeth. Jesus visits this world by being birthed in a manger. Mary and Joseph visit the temple to present their baby to the community and to God. In his youth, Jesus visits His Father’s house and that is where Mary and Joseph find him.

With the invasion of social media into our daily lives, visiting has become a lost art. The online dictionary definition of “visit” reads: “to go to and stay with (a person or family) or at (a place) for a short time for reasons of sociability, politeness, business, curiosity, etc.” Visit implies going to…and staying with. If we follow the example of Jesus, we must go to a place where we can connect with the All and remain there for a block of time. What we visit, we connect with.

Some take vacations to escape from the grind of day-to-day life. Often, we live for these vacations instead of living our lives. We vacation to exotic places and often eat and drink and indulge in feeding a myriad of physical appetites. Not all of us do this, some go on retreats to meditate and grow closer to God, while others commune and connect with nature. Our day-to-day life has become such that we need these escapes – these trips to newness, to indulgences, and even to locales of healing.

Wouldn’t it be a brighter life if we did not need to escape from our routines? What if we had no need to experience something new or visit something old, but instead enjoyed living united with our Creator, and every day was new and beautiful, peace-filled, and joyous beyond measure? We would not wish to escape.

The reason to travel then becomes a way to visit others; to uplift, serve, care for, and help to provide what they may need. Vacations become not a break or an escape, but a part of one’s life of service to others.