Angie Land

Summer vacation: That wonderful, necessary time away from work, household chores and the normal fast-pace of life! Our family has a list of things that make up what we call “a good vacation”: sleeping late, eating meals together, playing board games, watching movies and especially enjoying the water. Whether we get a week away at the beach or just sneak in a day or so at the springs, we love these times.

And yet, I wonder if any of you wrestle with yourself over how to spend that down time like I do. My struggle is that I hate to “waste” time. By nature, I am fairly organized and need an overall plan each day in order to get things accomplished. It can be really hard for me to turn that off while on vacation. As a much younger mom and wife, the struggle to accomplish something even while on vacation had the potential to make me, (as well as everyone else) miserable.  

A few years ago, God brought this up to me while our family was enjoying a week at the beach. I was reading a devotion based on the life of Jacob found in Genesis. In Genesis 47, Jacob and his family traveled to Egypt to see his estranged son, Joseph, and to live in the land of Goshen because of the terrible famine in the land. 

“Then Joseph brought his father Jacob in and presented him before Pharaoh. After Jacob blessed Pharaoh, Pharaoh asked him, ‘How old are you?’ And Jacob said to Pharaoh, ‘The years of my pilgrimage are hundred and thirty. My years have been few and difficult, and they do not equal the years of the pilgrimage of my fathers.’”  Genesis 47:7-10

The word “difficult” can be translated: evil, distress, adversity, affliction, calamity, mischief, trouble, wretchedness and wickedness. Jacob spent much of his life deceiving his family, running from God and looking out for number one. My take on his explanation to Pharaoh is that Jacob understood his sin to be the cause of his difficult life, and he regretted the “waste.”  

In that moment God clearly impressed on my heart that time spent resting, creating memories with my family, and enjoying His creation is not wasted time, as long as He is in His rightful place in my heart. On the other hand, no amount of work will bring real accomplishment if He is not. Because even on vacation, every heart matters.

Blessings, Angie 

Heart Matters is a weekly column written by Angie Land, Director of the Family Life Ministries of the Lafayette Baptist Association, where she teaches Bible studies, leads marriage and family conferences and offers Biblical counseling to individuals, couples and families.  Contact Angie with questions or comments at angieland3@windstream.net