Take a Vacation from Your Problems...

One of my all-time favorite movies is "What About Bob?" It's a great story about a comically paranoid delusional man who becomes the patient of an egocentric psychiatrist. The day after they meet the doctor is going on vacation, which sends the patient (Bob) into a self-induced state of panic. Through a series of events, Bob learns the location of the doc (Dr. Marvin) and catches a bus to meet him at his vacation spot. This very inappropriate patient behavior takes Dr. Marvin by surprise, but he offers Bob a "remedy" by politely "prescribing" that Bob "take a vacation from his problems." While this prescription fails hilariously in the movie, I want to glean some positive insight from such light-hearted advice.

I am leaving tomorrow to take my family on a vacation road trip to Nashville. It will take us roughly 16 hours to drive from San Antonio to our final destination. That may not seem like a vacation to some folks (especially with 3 kids under the age of 6!), but we are excited about the getaway. In fact, it has been in preparing for this trip that I have been reminded of the need to plan for periods of rest, relaxation, and "down time" throughout my life. I am not (nor are you) designed to have every moment of my life filled with some activity or work. I need rest. You need rest too. But we don't just need rest from the physical demands and emotional pressures of work. We need rest from our problems. Let me explain.

Life is full of problems. It is, after all, a fact of life that we all encounter resistance along our journey of living. Cars break down, pink slips show up unannounced, friends and relatives die unexpectedly, kids rebel, and spouses don't always agree. These are the problems of life. If we spend every moment of every day consumed in exerting emotional, physical, and mental energy on solving these problems, we will be exhausted at best, accelerating death at worst. Problems, though they are a fact of life, are not the focus of life. Therefore, we must account for "vacation time" from, yes, even our problems.

Taking a "vacation" from our problems doesn't mean they go unnoticed or unresolved. It simply means that we must develop a more realistic outlook on them. Most problems will not be solved in a couple hours. Many may never be resolved. But the contentment we can enjoy in life is not dependent on whether all our problems are erased. True satisfaction in life rests in the knowledge that God has purchased us (and our problems) through the sacrifice of Jesus. We can rest, even as problems engulf us, because we are His, totally secure forever.

So, the next time you take a peek at all the problems in your life, take a deep breath, give them a wink, and try pulling out your rarely used prescription to "take a vacation." You may be surprised at how different your problems look when you return.

On vacation...

jonathan