Vacation

This week, our family is heading out on vacation.  I am amazed how one word, "vacation," carries so much baggage, perhaps both literally and figuratively.  On the positive, vacation brings anticipation and excitement about getting away.  Vacation brings a different rhythm and routine.  Vacation brings new sights, sounds, smells, tastes and encounters which can expose us to different parts of the world.  Vacations open us to new and different.  On the other hand, sometimes we can build vacations up so much that they don't measure up to our hopes.  Vacations can bring us to the bring of where we feel comfortable or in control.  Vacations can sometimes leave us exhausted.  I know I have uttered the words, "I need a vacation from this vacation."

One of the parts of meditation is to set intention.  We can get so wrapped up in packing, preparing, making our lists and checking it twice, trying to get the last bit of work finished before we depart that we don't step back...breathe...and think about what we hope to get out of vacation. 

This week, my intention is first and foremost to spend time with my family.  Suddenly, this can shift perspective.  So what if we have to wait for something?  If we are waiting together, this has room to move in my intention.  So what if we are late to something?  We are late together.  To be sure, this doesn't alleviate all stress...especially because I loath being late to anything.  But it can help.

Another intention is to rest.  This means that if I am sitting in a chair by the pool while the kids swim, my top two intentions are a lived experience and encounter in that moment.  This means mentally shifting the to the "off" switch.  This means, my body might start to feel some aches that I had been outrunning the last few months.  This means, my soul might have some things to say and emotions that have been waiting in the shadows.

Notice my intention is not, "This will be the best vacation ever...ever...ever."  It may or may not be.  But that isn't the point.  The point is to be, to reconnect, to rest.  The point is that is more than enough.

May you sense more than a trace of God's grace this week.