As many of you know, I just got back from a 2 week vacation with my wife and some friends to my “happy place” (Isla Mujeres, Mexico). It’s a place where time stands still…where my pace goes from “break-neck” to “snail-like.”
When people ask me what we do on our winter vacation I answer without hesitation—NOTHING!! Actually, I did read 5 novels, walked/jogged several miles, played games, and ate enough Mexican food to last me another year. But when it comes to writing sermons, preaching, managing staff, or solving problems, I did NOTHING!!
I love vacations. I love them so much that I want to highly recommend that you take one right now.
For those of you who cannot afford the time or money for a winter getaway, I have a different kind of holiday in mind. It’s summed up in this quote by Simon Tugwell on prayer: "God invites us to take a holiday, to stop being God for awhile, and let him be God...We can stop doing all those important things we have to do in our capacity as God, and leave it to him to be God."
I like Tugwell’s point. Prayer is like a holiday. It's me stopping long enough to remind myself that I'm not God. That the weight of the world is not on my shoulders. Prayer is me turning over to God the things that I cannot handle or change.
What are you carrying on your shoulders right now that you cannot handle or change? What burden? What heavy load?
I don’t know what you’re doing right now, but I invite you to pause for a moment right now and take a holiday...pray! Burden God with what’s burdening you. Allow God to do what HE does best (be God).
Enjoy…and send me a postcard.
Posted on
Thu, January 19, 2012
by Phil Print
filed under