Vacations are rampant! I have noticed it before but never like this. It is as if we are all kids in cars and I can hear my voice repeatedly crying out “are we there yet?” There are a unique set of things that happen during this season that include the following. Expectations drop; people seem to know that everything just doesn’t “happen”. Impatience and frustrations grow; people may know but that doesn’t mean they agree. Behaviors become more cavalier; it isn’t that people don’t care; it is that there is only so much time before vacation begins!
I wonder how much summer vacation attitude is creeping into the rest of the year and our lives. Everywhere I look, I find people stressed, overwhelmed by life, and either emotionally or physically drowning on otherwise sunny days. There are occasional smooth spells however chaos seems increasingly to be the norm. We try to reduce the tensions and yet in our lives the stress levels continue to grow. We push for easier working conditions and then proceed to work harder and longer hours. We struggle to improve the quality of our lives and spend less and less time with those we hold closest to our hearts. The recurring “are we there yet” applies to everything that we value! We keep “wanting”.
John thought he had seen it all. Yet the vision continued. “Following this I saw another Angel descend from Heaven. His authority was immense, his glory flooded earth with brightness, his voice thunderous.” (Revelation 18.1) John had the courage to keep faith, stay open minded, and grow into God.
I see the Divine working in your life and mine. I wonder if I realize that God is involved in so many ways that my quest to “get there” with God is just like the stress in my life. I continue to see life through backwards eyes! God is present, heaven can begin, today. Stress, pain, and anguish are part of this life, so is God.
Are we there yet? Yes in our standing with God.
