Relaxing Vacations?

Do you take a break from the busy life of work and go on a relaxing trip? Is it really less busy than normal life? I think not. Sometimes you may take a lunch break and relax from the daily labors, but what kind of vacation is relaxing?

Now I'm not saying that all vacations are completely busy, though some may be; I've just experienced enough to believe that all vacations have busy parts to them. Anything that involves an airport has plenty of room for stressful travel. But if you drive to your desired location, you're likely to have to pack some or a lot of stuff in the car. The farther you go, the more money you pay, and the more time you spend travelling. Usually the relaxing in vacation comes when you reach your destination. But this is not always the case.

When I spend a lot of money on a vacation, I don't want to relax, I want my money's worth. I will travel into town and see the sites. I will go to the shows and meet the new people. I will learn what I can about my destination before going so that every second can be planned out with activities. All this is anything but relaxing.

Don't get me wrong, I love vacations. I just don't go on vacation to relax. I will escape the normal daily routine of life, but I will still be busy. There will still be stress. Though I will still enjoy myself. If I want to relax, I will go home, read a book, take a nap, or play the piano. I don't need to travel to relax.

Snowflakes of Service

Service has so many forms. People serve for so many different reasons. Some service is small and seems less significant, but other service brings multiple people together in large organized projects. To some degree, service is like snowflakes.

Each snowflake is unique and different from all the rest. Flakes are so small that you can't see their beauty until you examine them closely. They can seem insignificant. But most flakes that you see are not the small individual flakes. Many are large clumps of connected flakes falling together until they reach their destination. Each individual unique flake has its own beauty, but when millions are joined together, they make everything white. When snow accumulates, it can't go unnoticed.

Acts of service and snowflakes are unique as well as similar. Each one is beautiful, and the combination of many is also beautiful. But snow and service can also be dangerous if they fall in the wrong places at the wrong time. Just because the world needs service just as it need's snow, we need to be mindful of our reasons of serving and whether it will help more than hurt.