We’re preparing to go away on holiday. It’s not complicated. We’re going to stay with Soo, so there are no hotels to book. True, there are a couple of flights to negotiate, so getting there won’t be entirely straightforward, but really, it’s nothing to worry about. Nevertheless, it is dominating our thoughts because it will be a different time to the usual.
For two weeks, we won’t be at home. That means that someone else will have to go in to look after the cat. The letters will stack up and remain un-read. There’ll be no-one to hear the phone messages and no-one to answer the e-mails. I’m deliberately leaving behind this electronic web of connections that keeps me in communication at all times. This is a holiday.
An occasion like this serves to remind me of how little I really need. I’ll have a suitcase of clothes with me. I’ll probably take too many. Usually do. I’ll throw in a few personal bits and pieces but then there are the important things – my Bible, MP3 player and several books of different types. That’s really all that anyone needs in my view!
I’m not as extreme as some people I know (when our Tim goes away, his books bag weighs more than all the rest of his luggage combined) but books are definitely an essential element in any successful holiday, as far as I’m concerned. I need to have something to think about in order to relax. Other people need to have things to do in order to relax. I look with horror on the so-called holidays that some offer – packed programmes full of rock climbing, diving, parachute jumping and walking extensive distances.
It’s wonderful that God made us all so different! Some are creative and clever with their hands. Some have active minds and are always looking for new puzzles to solve. Some need to be moving all the time, discovering new horizons. God made us all. God loves us all. He doesn’t have favourite types. We’re all special to Him. I find it amazing that the Bible says that God made us all in His image, even though we are so different to each other.
More than that, He is in the process of re-making us in the image of Jesus (Romans 8:29), so that we can re-discover the way He always planned us to be. And yet, He doesn’t take away our individuality. He’s making us more like Him and yet, at the same time, more individual. All our qualities – whether we’re thinkers or doers or feelers or makers – are from God. When we give ourselves over to Him, He takes those qualities and makes them better. Because they’re all part of His nature anyway.
We’re going away on holiday. We need the break. We’re looking forward to seeing Soo and the way that she’s settled in to her new home. We’re relishing the opportunity of becoming a little more rounded, a little more complete, a little more like Jesus. Because sometimes, those times away allow the parts of us that get worn out to be restored and built up and that’s part of the work that God does too.
I’ll see you again very soon!
Liz Edwards
Recent Comments