There is a
time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens…
What do
workers gain for their toil? (Ecclesiastes 3:1-9)
We took our first vacation in years. We often go on trips, and like
most 21st century families, we rarely get completely away. Most of the time, my
husband and I are both guilty of answering voicemail or responding to email. So
last week, we boarded the Love Boat, disconnected from technology, and entered
into some new seasons for our family.
A time to love...James and I celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary
last fall. Through the years, we have spent so much time earning a living that
we often missed enjoying our life. On Day 2, we started reading Gary Chapman's The
Five Love Languages and individually conceded that although we have a
good marriage, neither of our love tanks is filled completely all the time. On
Day 3, J finished the book and the profiles before I did. We both speak
bilingual love languages. We share a need for words of encouragement and
compliments from the people we love and the people who love us. We entered a
new season committed to keeping each other's love tank filled with words of affirmation.
A time to let go...Q is growing up so fast. He has two overprotective
and overinvolved parents. This was his first vacation where we did not try to
dictate his every move. We signed him up for the teen activities and had to
trust that we raised a responsible kid. We realized that we have a different
child who dances, talks, and engages the least likely audiences when he's in
his zone. By Day 4, James and I noticed that we were both exhausted by 10 pm,
but one of us had to stay awake until Q safely returned to our cabin, usually
just before midnight. Dr. Chapman briefly introduced The Five Love Languages of Teenagers.
We entered into a new season committed to rewarding Q with advanced freedoms in
return for advanced familial responsibilities.
A time to live...We spent the remainder of the trip vacationing,
visiting new sites, trying new foods, enjoying our life. After seven days away,
we had barely exited the port before I was checking voicemail and email. When I
finally connected and checked messages, among the first things I read were of
the death of a dear friend’s grandchild and the death of a classmate’s younger
sister. The euphoria of the vacation subsided. On the drive home, I thought
about me relative to the ocean, or that work did not stop simply because I was
away. I noticed that while we were gone, God’s appointed season transpired: the
flowers bloomed without any input from me. I thought about those two lives lost
and their families, who I’m sure, were not focused on work, but in their way,
on how to fill the love tanks of the people most important to them. Jesus
taught that the person who loves becomes filled with joy for life. At that
moment, I stopped toiling over my natural work and shifted to my spiritual
work, and I entered into a new season committed to learning to purposely love
living. As I write this, my love tank is completely filled.
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