Seasons

"Cramped In A Minivan"

EPILOGUE

It's funny how we loathe routine only to long for its return. Vacation is something we all anticipated intensely and greeted like the African Savannah welcomes the rains after a long dry season, but a break from normal demands is not always what we plan it to be. None of us would have imagined that we would spend our second day of vacation in a Nashville emergency room determining the seriousness of Joshua's abdominal pains. Even though we rejoiced that all tests for appendicitis or abdominal blockage were negative, we could not have predicted the physical and emotional toll the ordeal would take on us, and how it would temper each foray into the pool, time in the minivan, or any other vacation activity. There is no blame to be placed or shared; Josh's discomfort was simply a key theme in our story over the past week. When we had packed all we could into our allotted days, the cabin was cleaned, luggage stowed, snacks strategically placed, family members situated as comfortably as possible in their respective minivan locations, and all hunkered down for the 19 1/2 hour drive from Gordonsville, Virginia to Waco, Texas.

The most interesting thing to me about the whole week was the question that both grandsons as well the adults voiced during our marathon journey back to Waco: where are we going next year? How can one long to return home and to leave it again, all in the same emotion? Familiarity breeds something far different from contempt; it provides a secure base from which to explore. My happiest childhood memories are of the annual adventures our family took to Hot Springs, Arkansas. So strong are these sensory remembrances that they allow me to ignore anything negative, like the spats with my sister over backseat territory, or my father's reluctance to stop along the drive for restroom breaks, or the way my parents had to carefully balance each travel expense with the more pressing demands of mortgage, car payment, and the like. Vacations were commas for Mom and Dad, but exclamation points for me and my sister, ones I'm grateful that I did not miss. 

Jesus said, "The Father knows what we need" (Matthew 6:8). He knows we need seasons, a measure of predictability that allows us space to create and courage to dare. He also knows that life without dreams leads to monotony, the shadow side of routine. So we struggle with an inherent tension-- to remain and to release, to stay and to go, to be satisfied and to strain for something more, reminding us that we were created for a relationship that may be enjoyed here and now, but that cannot be fully realized in this life. Missionary author Don Richardson called this "eternity in our hearts." Vacations are powerful experiences, simply because they remind our hearts that one day earthly and emotional seasons will be discarded in favor of uninterrupted perfection with the Father. In the meantime, we're thinking about crowding back into a minivan next summer and vacationing in Savannah, Georgia.