Reason #591
How did September get here so quickly? I mean really, doesn't it just seem like it was Christmas? I went to the store tonight and noticed that all the Halloween candy is out on the shelves. It's about that time of year. But there's something I really like about the last part of the year, namely the holidays. And fortunately, for me, the last 4 months of the year are packed full of federal holidays. There's nothing better than a long weekend, therefore, I am having a really hard time getting myself in the mood to go back to work tomorrow because I still want to be on vacation.
Vacations kind of spoil you, right? You get to spend your whole time having fun. There's no agenda or schedule you have to follow. You can stay up late, sleep in late, eat at new places, experience different things, and you don't have to pick up after yourself if you don't want to. And I don't know about you, but I often find that when I am out of town I begin to have wishful thinking and an exceptionally hard time coming back to real life.
As we drove through Dallas, I looked at all of the large office buildings and I wondered what it would be like to really work a corporate job. I thought to myself, I bet the people that work in that building get paid well. I bet there's a lot more opportunity for job growth, too. We would drive by certain strip malls and I'd see store after store that I wanted to go into. If only Lubbock had that many stores. If there was just a little more variety here. And the food, don't even get me started. We could use one of those, it'd be nice to have a place like this, if only this restaurant would open in Lubbock, if only we could have that many different options to pick from. Oh, I wish we had a big outlet mall. I wish we had one of those theatres with the super comfy lounge chairs that recline all the way back. There's so much to do here. Why can't we have a professional sports team? Will we ever get a zoo or aquarium? Look at all the nice parks and lakes. I wish we had all these trees. It must be nice to live in such a convenient location.
And so I find myself wishing for so much more because everything is bigger, newer, shiney-er, and seemingly better. If we could have things like that, life here would be so much more fun. We'd have more options of things to do, better places to go on a date, and no problem keeping ourselves entertained. Yet what I forget is that life is life no matter where you live. We all do laundry, we all work jobs, we all cook dinner, mow our yards, and clean our house. And more importantly, we all find ourselves wishing we could either have more or change what we've got.
You've heard the whole "grass is greener" saying, and it's true. But I realized that by having these thoughts, I was basically being ungrateful for the things I do have and the place I live. And if you want me to be real honest, I realized that I was thinking that by having access to more man-made wordly things, my life would be so much more fun and fulfilling. For some reason, having better places to shop at, eat at, and spend my weekends at would make a world of difference when in reality, the last thing I need to do is fill my life with more things and feed my consumeristic ways.
Maybe you've done this, too. You go somewhere, you have a great time, you talk to a friend, see pictures, watch a show and you wish you could change some things about your living situation. If you could just live here, work here, have this, eat there, shop at that store, spend your weekends in that place, life would be better. But did you realize that maybe you were telling God that the very things He has given you, and the place where He has planted you, isn't good enough? You need more of the world if you're really going to be satisfied and you need to be somewhere else in order to enjoy it. God has already blessed us with more than we deserve, and even have space for most of the time, yet we have no problem desiring and asking for more when we see something we don't have.
Vacations are meant for enjoyment. A way to take a break from the stresses of normal life and unwind. A little adventure to make memories. A way to see new places and try new things. Vacations aren't meant to discourage you about coming home or make you think less of the life you live, even though that can happen sometimes. And so I am reminded to be thankful. For one, thankful for the opportunity to travel. But more than that, to be thankful for where God has placed me. For the community that I live in. After all, there's really no perfect place to live. We need to be thankful for the abundance God has given us rather than asking for something more, something newer. And we need to realize that no matter where we live on this earth, our hearts will never be satisfied. Because this isn't our home. Truthfully, every day of life on this earth is a vacation for God's children. And so we enjoy it. We enjoy our homes, and we enjoy our travels. And we give God thanks for both because we realize that one day, we'll finally live in a place that has it all.
#591 - Vacations and knowing that one day we'll live in a place that has everything we could ever want or need.
"Lord, you alone are my inheritance, my cup of blessing. You guard all that is mine. The land you have given me is a pleasant land. What a wonderful inheritance...You will show me the way of life, granting me the joy of your presence and the pleasures of living with you forever." - Psalm 16: 5-6 & 11
Vacations kind of spoil you, right? You get to spend your whole time having fun. There's no agenda or schedule you have to follow. You can stay up late, sleep in late, eat at new places, experience different things, and you don't have to pick up after yourself if you don't want to. And I don't know about you, but I often find that when I am out of town I begin to have wishful thinking and an exceptionally hard time coming back to real life.
As we drove through Dallas, I looked at all of the large office buildings and I wondered what it would be like to really work a corporate job. I thought to myself, I bet the people that work in that building get paid well. I bet there's a lot more opportunity for job growth, too. We would drive by certain strip malls and I'd see store after store that I wanted to go into. If only Lubbock had that many stores. If there was just a little more variety here. And the food, don't even get me started. We could use one of those, it'd be nice to have a place like this, if only this restaurant would open in Lubbock, if only we could have that many different options to pick from. Oh, I wish we had a big outlet mall. I wish we had one of those theatres with the super comfy lounge chairs that recline all the way back. There's so much to do here. Why can't we have a professional sports team? Will we ever get a zoo or aquarium? Look at all the nice parks and lakes. I wish we had all these trees. It must be nice to live in such a convenient location.
And so I find myself wishing for so much more because everything is bigger, newer, shiney-er, and seemingly better. If we could have things like that, life here would be so much more fun. We'd have more options of things to do, better places to go on a date, and no problem keeping ourselves entertained. Yet what I forget is that life is life no matter where you live. We all do laundry, we all work jobs, we all cook dinner, mow our yards, and clean our house. And more importantly, we all find ourselves wishing we could either have more or change what we've got.
You've heard the whole "grass is greener" saying, and it's true. But I realized that by having these thoughts, I was basically being ungrateful for the things I do have and the place I live. And if you want me to be real honest, I realized that I was thinking that by having access to more man-made wordly things, my life would be so much more fun and fulfilling. For some reason, having better places to shop at, eat at, and spend my weekends at would make a world of difference when in reality, the last thing I need to do is fill my life with more things and feed my consumeristic ways.
Maybe you've done this, too. You go somewhere, you have a great time, you talk to a friend, see pictures, watch a show and you wish you could change some things about your living situation. If you could just live here, work here, have this, eat there, shop at that store, spend your weekends in that place, life would be better. But did you realize that maybe you were telling God that the very things He has given you, and the place where He has planted you, isn't good enough? You need more of the world if you're really going to be satisfied and you need to be somewhere else in order to enjoy it. God has already blessed us with more than we deserve, and even have space for most of the time, yet we have no problem desiring and asking for more when we see something we don't have.
Vacations are meant for enjoyment. A way to take a break from the stresses of normal life and unwind. A little adventure to make memories. A way to see new places and try new things. Vacations aren't meant to discourage you about coming home or make you think less of the life you live, even though that can happen sometimes. And so I am reminded to be thankful. For one, thankful for the opportunity to travel. But more than that, to be thankful for where God has placed me. For the community that I live in. After all, there's really no perfect place to live. We need to be thankful for the abundance God has given us rather than asking for something more, something newer. And we need to realize that no matter where we live on this earth, our hearts will never be satisfied. Because this isn't our home. Truthfully, every day of life on this earth is a vacation for God's children. And so we enjoy it. We enjoy our homes, and we enjoy our travels. And we give God thanks for both because we realize that one day, we'll finally live in a place that has it all.
#591 - Vacations and knowing that one day we'll live in a place that has everything we could ever want or need.
"Lord, you alone are my inheritance, my cup of blessing. You guard all that is mine. The land you have given me is a pleasant land. What a wonderful inheritance...You will show me the way of life, granting me the joy of your presence and the pleasures of living with you forever." - Psalm 16: 5-6 & 11