Chapter 7 excerpt: "Taking Time Away"

When you are choosing a spot for your family vacation, I recommend finding a place that not only appeals to your whole family, but that is somehow special to you, that you can return to year after year. Some people long for the adventure of the unknown, but to us, in a very uncertain life, it seems comforting to be able to return to a place and have it remain largely unchanged. For my husband’s family, that place is Yosemite National Park. They hike the trails, take in the majestic views, ride bikes around the park, eat in the same restaurants, and take their picture in the same crack in the rock every year. My husband and his siblings love to look back at the pictures and reminisce as they have grown older, and all have returned with their own families. That continues to be a special place to our family, not just because of its awe-inspiring natural beauty, but because my husband is a more relaxed, joyful, and wonder-filled version of himself in the place where he had so many happy childhood memories. He said he can’t go there and look up at the granite cliffs without thinking of how powerful and majestic God is, like Psalm 90:2, “Before the mountains were born or You brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting You are God.” For me, you may have guessed, that place is the Oregon Coast. The dunes, the chilly water, the smooth stones, the vastness of the ocean, they feed my soul; they fulfill a longing in this rambling, world-traveled missionary child’s heart for a true home. I am reminded that “If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there Your hand will guide me, Your right hand will hold me fast,” Psalm 139:9-10. When I look out over that broad, silver ocean, with small hands clasping my own, anchoring me to earth, and smaller, purer hearts shrieking with sheer delight at the tiny breakers rushing over their feet, I am rooted again in the delight of the moment, reminded again that life can be simple and lovely and full of wonder. So pack your bags. Make your reservations, buy your tickets, or just get in the car and go. Find a hand to hold and something to laugh about and make your memories. Fill your reservoir with joy for the dry times, fill it full, and store up those sweet moments, because we all need to be reminded who we were before life got so crazy, so busy, so complicated. Fall in love with your spouse all over again, laugh with your family over something silly, sit around a fire and talk until the embers die down to a low, friendly glow. And then treasure these things in your heart.