I have just returned from a wonderful family vacation and am looking forward to sharing my latest life revelations, once unpacked! Priorities, after all. But, truthfully, I enjoyed all that God allowed on my recent trip to Maine and did not even have ONE inspirational thought for this blog while I was there. But you know there really is always more going on beneath the surface. Since writing is such an integral part of my life, like breathing, it is rare for me to go a day without a pen stroke. I remember years ago I had a quote on my bulletin board that read ( To this day I cannot find it anywhere!) something like: ” A writer needs to live, live, live. Read, read, read and write, write, write.” So during this vacation I focused on all of the above! The living part was filled with trying new things and experiencing many blessings. I still need time to digest and reflect on the beauty of this gift God gave our family and me personally. I did this regularly, as I sat on the beach in the mornings looking over the beauty of the mountains, but I kept most of my writing to detailed journal entries capturing the experiences we had daily. I purposed to really be available and present completely every moment. In this day and age that is a challenge! Fortunately one of the blessings was no TV, computer or cell phone service (for the most part). What a wonderful gift for our family. Of course there was a portable DVD player for a rainy day movie and some of our camping friends had TV for some chill time for kids who wanted a little plug in time. But for the most part we just were able to enjoy what each day brought, together. Of course, I did get to peruse two wonderful booksellers while on vacation and I was able to get a couple of very old books. Even though I had my Kindle with me and I also had books from home I still found new books to procure. Perfect. So writerish, right? Or should I say, write?
This week allowed me to truly recreate the way the Lord wants. Recreation should be time spent being “re- created”. Vacation as well as daily quiet times allow this to be time spent renewing, refreshing and replenishing my vision, creativity, enjoyment of life and love for others.
Sometimes the best thing we can do in life is the very thing God has before us RIGHT NOW! In the midst of harried lives, He brings stillness, peace and rest. Sometimes we miss out because we are tuned out, burnt out, distracted or mentally unavailable. This is not God’s will anytime for us, but a vacation really can remind us of how blessed we are and also help us appreciate and say with satisfaction today, “Home, sweet home” and really mean it. Because dear ones, home is wherever the Lord has us right now- we are always “at home” with Him who gave His life for us.
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| Posing with my bookstore find! |
“The writer’s duty is to keep on writing…” William Styron
Well rest assured- God is faithful and He did show me some things worth sharing even while I was on vacation. As we drove home the words and thoughts were already forming in my mind, much to my own surprise. I pulled out the notebook and pen and began to write (Fear not, friends my husband was driving!). Such is the way of the writer’s life. That particular draft will be shared within the next day or two. SO please be sure and stop back here. Until then, make sure you do keep digging beneath the surface…
One more thing:
In case any of you missed my post on Melinda Todd’s sight “Trailing After God” I wanted to put a perma-link (I think this is it below- give it a try) to the Trailing After God guest post.
Enthusiastically Yours,
Dawn
Enthusiastically, Dawn 
What a lovely place for a vacation Dawn; Maine is one of my favorite spots! 🙂 It is a gift from God to enjoy time to find rest and silence with no other obligations, appointments, or social engagements. Sometimes the most productive thing we can do is to allow ourselves to rest and find quiet time with God throughout the day. I am glad you enjoyed some relaxing “downtime”!Denise
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