Vacation...Friday

1/10/14 

I have often felt like I don’t know how to do vacation.  When my boys were young we would go visit my family, which all live in Washington State.  It was always important for me to have them spend time with grandma and grandpa, aunts, uncles and, of course, cousins.  The time was always too short and went by way too quickly We did make some great memories riding dirt bikes and living the country life, as their mom had growing up.  It was always so traumatic and emotional for me to come back home.  There are various reasons for that….much too many to cover in one session.  There would be quite a few issues in that book, and I am saving them for another day.

Now, at the age of fifty-two, and with my first born son turning twenty-nine, I have just returned from a week of vacation visiting him.  I must say this was one of the best and most loving vacations that I have ever had.  On the first day I told myself that I would relax, to slow down my brain from the constant worry that it does.  I asked God to help me, and guess what….He did.  With His loving help I was allowed to appreciate each moment of each day.  I took the time I needed to read, and have quiet time with God, to ponder, to feel, to observe.

My reason for the visit was to celebrate Michael’s birthday.   And that we did, but today, as I am writing this, I am really celebrating so much more than that.  I see a young man that has a heart of gold.  None of our lives have ever been easy, and Michael felt quite bitter about that for many years.  I now see a young man that loves God and cares so much for his father, his girlfriend, his family and is always so generous to anyone he comes across that is less fortunate than he.

I came away from this vacation with…yes, tears, saying I love you and see you soon, but, more than that, seeing the beautifully awesome healing of our Lord’s work in the heart of my first born son. This was the son who was once so hard that he stated there was no God, because, if there was, all these bad things would not happen to him.  That right there is the best “birthing day” present a mom could ever get. 

The moon will shine like the sun, and the sunlight will be seven times brighter, 

like the light of seven full days, when the Lord binds up the bruises of his people 

and heals the wounds he inflicted.

Isaiah 30:26

New International Version (NIV)

Here is a song sung by Shawn McDonald.