Vacation

Sunday 5/29/2012 7:52 AM

I am currently on vacation.  My idea of an ideal vacation is one in which I can relax in a quiet place and read a few books.  Since I am a teacher and spend most of my time at work interacting with people I need alone time to unwind.

We are visiting with my daughter and son-in-law and two of my grandchildren, ages 2 years and 9 months.  The 2-year old is full of energy and is constantly on the go and the 9-month old is just beginning to crawl and get into things.  I love playing with them and going for walks but that leaves little quiet time where I can be alone.

As I ran this morning it thought about the word vacation and wondered if the root of the word was the word vacate.   I have certainly vacated my house and my job, which is the usual meaning of vacation, but I want to empty myself like a hermit might if he were on a deserted island, unlikely in my current circumstances.  In the middle of running a number of verses came to mind.  Ephesians 5:18, “Do not be drunk with wine, which leads to debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit.”  Colossians 3:9-10, “Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.”  John 10:10, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”  It seems that God does not want me to be empty but to be full, full of himself.

John 14:23 records the words of Jesus on his last night with his disciples, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching.  My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.”  I need to vacate my heart of the love of things, power and fame if I am to make room for God and the fullness I so much desire.  That would be the best vacation for which I could hope.