Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

EN(dur)ANCE by Robin Gudal

I feel like a little girl, all giddy and excited. No, it’s not Christmas Eve. No, I’m not doing anything big or amazing. I am, however, leaving on vacation. I am so over the moon.

“A vacation is having nothing to do and all day to do it in.” — Robert Orben

It’s time. I am ready for relaxation time without dishes staring me in the face, loads of laundry, work or even the basic everyday schedule. It won’t be a lengthy vacay, just enough time to reset. I am so excited I’m having a hard time sleeping.

“And he said to them, ‘Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.’ For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat.” — Mark 6:31, ESV

Mark 6 is the name of our camper. This is the theme verse for our time away. However, we don’t forget to eat. We plan to just be together, maybe go for a bike ride, visit a local antique store, attack my reading pile, have a cup of coffee in the screened-in porch and possibly even take several daytime naps. Oh, and the big win is that Greggy grills.

In my reading pile, I am walking slowly through Lyse Terkeurst’s “The Forgiveness Journal.” She challenges me with this:

“At some point we must stop imagining the way things should be so much that we can’t acknowledge what is.”

So, as I prepare to escape on vacation, I also leave with her wisdom. How often do we live in the “would-have, could-have” world instead of embracing what is? I desire to be present, to be awake in today and relish its beauty.

Billy Graham is an all-time favorite so as I leave, I leave with his deep wisdom. May it also encourage you this week:

“Life is a glorious opportunity.”

Robin (Beckman) Gudal is intentional in life, a wife, momma, nana, friend and a flawed and imperfect follower of Jesus.