This week, Allison and I are embarking on a brave, new adventure.  This week we will be doing something we have never done before.  This week, we are going on vacation with not one, but two children.  That’s right, we leave Wednesday for a “relaxing” few days with a three and a half year old and a three and a half month old.  What could possibly go wrong?  How could this not be pure relaxation?

It’s funny…as we are preparing for this quick trip away (we’ll be back in plenty of time for me to preach Sunday—no reason to test our luck and go away for a long trip the first time out with two kids!), I find myself wondering what this trip will be like.  We’ve done vacation with one small child but two (and an infant at that) is going to be a much different ball game.  I find myself wondering if we’ll get to relax at all, if we’ll come home more stressed than when we left, if the kids will enjoy the beach or be terrified of it.  My mind, as you can tell, is racing with the questions of the unknown.  My mind assumes the worst.

I want a picture perfect family vacation, the kind you see on greeting cards and Hallmark movies.  I’m sure it won’t be the worst experience of my life but it will probably not measure up to the perfect picture either.  And that’s ok!  We’re still going!

We are going to step into the unknown and try out a family-of-four vacation.  Many of you have done it and lived to tell the tale…and so will we!

Obviously, I’m being a little over dramatic about this whole thing but it got me thinking a bit.  How often do we chose not to do something because we’re afraid the success won’t measure up to the picture of perfection we have in our heads?  How often do we end up doing nothing because we are afraid we’ll fail if we take a step of action?

If I can share just one area this might happen in… what about our relationship with God?  We talk about spending daily time with our Father, we paint these pictures of complete serenity sitting in front of our open bibles in prayer, and yet very rarely is this the reality we experience when we come before God.  We are distracted, burdened by life, weary from a busy day, and things don’t go as planned.  While we want to feel close to God, sometimes things don’t happen that way.  And so we simply chose to not spend time with Him rather than failing to achieve the picture perfect relationship.

But isn’t time with Him, regardless of how picturesque it may or may not be, the point?  Isn’t time with my family, regardless of how crazy it might be, the point?  If we stop trying to measure up to some imaginary standard and just lived life in full pursuit of God and family, I suspect we’d actually enjoy these things even more… maybe even beyond the picture we’ve dreamed up!

Just a thought as I count down to a few days on the beach… maybe I just needed to say this to myself or maybe you needed to hear it too!  Don’t fall for picture perfect, just live life boldly with God and those He’s placed in your life!

In Christ Alone,

Pastor Jan