{"id":1688,"date":"2015-06-10T12:01:23","date_gmt":"2015-06-10T17:01:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/denisebossert\/?page_id=1688"},"modified":"2015-06-10T12:01:23","modified_gmt":"2015-06-10T17:01:23","slug":"when-the-family-vacation-is-a-bust","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/denisebossert\/when-the-family-vacation-is-a-bust\/","title":{"rendered":"When the Family Vacation Is A Bust"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

I spend a lot of time trying to figure out how to get the most out of this faith journey. How to go about it. How to open myself up to Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n

How to engage the faith like a saint. I mull it over.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not certain that is the right approach anymore. It seems more efficient to just be docile, like falling into the swimming pool on that old Nestea commercial. Don\u2019t try to figure it all out. Just give yourself to it, with abandon.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a pilgrimage, not a vacation.\"IMG_3197\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Vacations are planned, mapped out, budgeted, mulled over. You hit the road and argue about when to stop and where to eat.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou decide. \u201c<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, you decide. \u201c<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I\u2019m not hungry yet.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, I am.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI have to go to the bathroom.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut, we just stopped.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was to get something to drink, and that\u2019s why I have to go to the bathroom.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we keep having pit stops, we\u2019ll never get there.\u201d<\/p>\n

No wonder we come home exhausted.<\/p>\n

We spend our time bickering about the details and worrying about the unforeseen events and very little goes as planned. The magical moments, those moments that we will remember and cherish twenty years from now, those are almost always the moments we didn\u2019t see coming. The ice cream cone on our last night. The insomnia that sent us to the window where we had a midnight view of Lake Michigan. The afternoon nap in Florida that wasn\u2019t planned but came so full and so deep that we woke up and wondered where we were. Like when we were children. And then we smiled.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_3001\"<\/a><\/p>\n

In the moment our vacation takes us where we didn\u2019t plan, it looks more like a pilgrimage. And that\u2019s when we realize we really needed a pilgrimage and not a vacation in the first place.<\/p>\n

A spiritual Nestea plunge.<\/p>\n

Into the arms of Christ.<\/p>\n

And maybe that\u2019s the point. Summer vacations \u2013 like life \u2013 need to make room for pilgrimage moments. And a pilgrimage is about giving up control. It is about opening up the soul.<\/p>\n

It is about expecting nothing and receiving everything.\"IMG_3050\"<\/a><\/p>\n

It is about letting God dot the \u201cI\u201d and cross the \u201cT.\u201d<\/p>\n

Faith likes a bit of willy nilly, a bit of waiting. A little wonder & awe.<\/p>\n

A little wonder & awe at ice cream. At long drives. At Mass in rural America at a church we\u2019ve never seen and will probably never see again.<\/p>\n

Like being a disciple and walking from Capernaum to Cana with no expectations. It\u2019s the moment when you taste the best wine you ever had. And you realize that grace showed up.<\/p>\n

Vacations can be the best of times. Or the worst of times. And I think it is one of the sadder things that we as Americans spend so much money on something that magnifies the worst we have to offer one another, the very ones we are supposed to love the most.<\/p>\n

Like children in the backseat.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere. That\u2019s your half. Stay on your side.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHey, Dad, are we almost there?\u201d<\/p>\n

And you say, no, son. We are already there. This is there<\/em>.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s joy in discovering Jesus Christ in the now of it.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I spend a lot of time trying to figure out how to get the most out of this faith journey. How to go about it. How to open myself up to Jesus Christ. How to engage the faith like a saint. I mull it over. I\u2019m not certain that is the right approach anymore. It […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2224,"featured_media":1689,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1688","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nWhen the Family Vacation Is A Bust - Denise Bossert<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I spend a lot of time trying to figure out how to get the most out of this faith journey. How to go about it. How to open myself up to Jesus Christ. 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