Vacations are difficult because it takes work to rest.  Saturdays were the best when I was a kid — waking up at the regular school time only to realize that there’s no school always made my legs tickle.  Back to sleep or bowl of cereal & cartoons — either way, it was easy to ignore school.

It turns out ignoring work is really, really difficult, even when you have a week (or two) of Saturdays.

In our youth, we’re like little speedboats that cruise through the harbor and into open waters.  Our capacity is limited but we can turn on a dime.  As our responsibility increases, our capacity expands, and our hull gets bigger (in nearly every way).  It takes more than a few seconds to make a turn because of the momentum.  Physics at work.

The way of Jesus is to rest at regular intervals.  Sabbath is rehearsal for vacation.  Hitting stop every week makes sure we don’t build too much momentum.  Sabbath is a no-wake zone.  Rest keeps us nimble and stops us from burning out.

It takes me three days to wind down, and that’s ok.  And now I’m winding back up, but hopefully with a little more insight, humility, and trust that my job isn’t to make a huge wake.

Jesus wasn’t in a hurry but He did have priorities.  At the top?  Prayer and rest in the presence of the Father.  May it be true of me.

How about you?