Vacation Lessons

I've just got back from a lovely family holiday. Here's some things I learned from it:

• Being away from the internet can be a massive blessing. 
• It removed a lot of distractions and unpleasantness for me.

• Being away from some of my problems, didn't mean I was away from my sinful heart. 
• I still had to wrestle with impatience, selfishness, and anger etc.

• Making a goal of knowing God more, rather than having 'fun' days was more fruitful.
• There's a pressure on holidays to make each day amazing. You've got to hit the beach as early as possible to get the best weather, best spots, and restaurant seating. But, I've found that prioritising family worship and catechism in the morning and evening led to a much more fulfilling holiday.

• Making repentance a priority brought more peace and love to the holiday.
• When there's six of you doing everything together 24/7, you inevitably end up hurting each other. Each day we had opportunities to confess our sin to each other and ask forgiveness. We helped one another apply the gospel to our regular sins, and grew in love and peace with each other. 

• Holidays make me long more for the new heavens and earth.
• Firstly, seeing creation in a different part of the world helped me consider God's creative variety, and how interesting all the variety in the new world will be. Secondly, having to come back from holiday made me long more for the peaceful new world that my holiday represented.