Science fiction and fantasy are so popular because people like to escape from their everyday lives. I know that I love getting absorbed in a comic or television series because it takes me to a different place or time. I love my life and my job and my relationships, but sometimes I just want to transport to a different place where transporters exist and starships explore the galaxy. Our nerdclinations meet our need for escapism, usually in a healthy way.
Going on vacation is a lot like that.
Vacations are a way to escape our normal lives and get transported to a different place. Even if we don’t go anywhere on our vacation and just experience a staycation, it’s still an opportunity to escape our normal patterns for something different. As I’ve written about while on vacation, God wants us to take time and rest. He wants us to get out of our normal routines so we can better focus on our relationships with him and others.
I feel like I’ve done that during my vacation in Hawaii. I had some time to get away from the business of God to focus on my relationship with God. I’ve had a great time investing my relationship with Alycia. I’ve spent time with my dad and my grandma. I’ve gotten to hang out with my sister, her husband and my niece. It has been a great time escaping the ordinary and getting to experience a different place.
Unfortunately it all ends today. I’m on my way back home, back to my normal life. And while it may seem like a bad thing, it’s a good thing and absolutely necessary.
God doesn’t tell us to rest just so that we can rest some more. God tells us to rest, relax and escape so, when we come back, we can better serve him. God worked for six days and then rested. God didn’t just keep resting, though; he got back to work. And the same should be true for us. We need to rest and relax and recharge our batteries, but then we’ve got to get back at it.
It’s unhealthy when a person gets trapped in their fantasy reality, when they invest more time in the Star Trek universe than in the actual universe. It’s just as unhealthy to spend the majority of our time resting and relaxing. God didn’t create us to rest, he created us to work, and he created us to do his will. So we should take time to rest and relax and escape, all with the mindset that we’re preparing ourselves to get back to work.
How does resting prepare you for work?
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