You are probably like most people; you just don’t have the time and/or resources for a vacation. After all, you know that busy, productive people just can’t find the time for a vacation. I once thought that, too. Then I was hit between the eyes by a mentor who said, “If you don’t come apart, then you will come apart.” Wow! Vacations are not lost time doing unimportant things; they are productive time giving you a change of place and pace to invigorate you to do even better when you return to your hectic schedule. I just returned from a 3-week vacation in Scotland, seeing first hand the cathedrals and abbeys that were built around 1100 to 1600 as Christianity spread throughout Europe. Some were ruins, others in better shape, but they all were magnificent in their day. It was time well needed for my wife, Zoe, and I to change our pace and get revitalized. Time well spent.
Did that vacation just happen? Not at all. We spent weeks and weeks planning and scheduling our time in Scotland. Charles Burton hit the nail on the head when we said, “You will never find time for anything. If you want time you must make it.” Truer words were never spoken. You must find time to do anything important. It doesn’t matter if it is a vacation, completing an important project, studying while in school, making time to do errands, and on and on the list goes. You must make time to do the important things in life or the important things in life will never get done. This includes taking a much-needed vacation.
Vacations not only give you a change of place and pace, but they also give you a much needed mental perspective change. You will find when you come back from a vacation that you feel better and can perform better. Scripture backs that up. Paul took time from his busy schedule when friends showed up and spent time with them. This gave him a change of pace and time to recharge those mental brain cells. Scripture tells us in 1 Cor. 16:18, “For they have refreshed my spirit and yours.” One of the major benefits of a change of pace, and may I add a vacation, is to get that refreshed spirit.
So relax and take time to go on a vacation for at least a few days, because if you don’t make time you will never find time!
