Hiding From Holidays

Over the years, I have pro­gres­sively unplugged from hol­i­days. I have come to enjoy keep­ing my sim­ple rou­tines of min­istry, while most of the rest of the coun­try hur­ries around to get on the road, line up for events, and then return home to nurse their sun­burns, or won­der how they are going to lose the newly added pounds. There is a strange peace that comes over me when I open my office door on a hol­i­day and take my place to do what I love best — read­ing, com­mu­ni­cat­ing, pon­der­ing, and pray­ing. I can hear traf­fic noises out­side. They are the dis­tant back­ground sounds of a world that does things en masse. I wish them well in their hunt for hap­pi­ness.
I vaca­tion while oth­ers are at work. My favorite thing to do is take three days in the mid­dle of the week to travel alone with­out the hol­i­day rush or lines. Restau­rants are glad to see me. It is one of their slow days. There are no noises from over-crowded hotels. There are empty seats on the plane, so I can stretch out. No one feels like some­thing spe­cial is sup­posed to be hap­pen­ing. The pres­sure is off.
As a min­is­ter I serve and observe. I get to foot­ball games at half-time or long before the crowd arrives. Some­times I go home early — even if the game is close. What I get from all of this is a lit­tle dif­fer­ent than what oth­ers expe­ri­ence. By being in the oppo­site mode, I am much more relaxed. I am not hav­ing to be places and do things by cul­tural cue. In a sense, being out of step raises my aware­ness of all that is going on, and it increases my enjoy­ment of life. Some of the best Christ­mases I have ever expe­ri­enced have been the ones that I pretty much ignored. The same is true for the sec­u­lar hol­i­days as well. I am not bur­dened by hav­ing to take on the load again. While oth­ers were away, I chipped away at my tasks. When they are drown­ing from the day after catch-up at work, I am calmly hav­ing a cup of cof­fee and read­ing at a relaxed pace.
Dur­ing all of this, I am reminded of the Bib­li­cal con­cept of being “called out” of the world. It is my own lit­tle way of march­ing to the beat of a dif­fer­ent drum. You would be amazed how enjoy­able it can be to be out of step. I expe­ri­ence less of the numb­ing mind trances of peo­ple doing every­thing at the same time. Take a hol­i­day from the hol­i­days once in a while, and see if you too won’t enjoy life itself a lit­tle more.