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On vacation
While on vacation with my family at an Alpine pasture in Austria, we needed to take a late-night drive down a mountain road in a van. Our purpose was to get to the railway station in the town of Zell am See to welcome some visitors.
While I was driving there, I had a look at the sky above. It was bright with stars. I stopped the vehicle, turned off the engine, and switched the lights off. That moment, I witnessed a kind of silence I had never felt before. The sparkling of stars added to the experience, leaving a deep inward peace. Remembering this opportunity we had to bear witness to such a moment has stayed with me ever since and made me recognize an inseparable connection between God and the surrounding calm.
Once, when it was time for our family to take another vacation, we began to do our planning. Praying before making vacation plans had never been my agenda before. But then a whole line of thoughts like these entered my mind: It’s true that God doesn’t know of any “vacation,” but what He is conscious of is the prospect of good, a fresh outlook or perspective, diversity, adventure, joy, letting go of burdens, etc.—things I could prove freely as God’s own child. Our family didn’t know yet where to go when we got a call. A Norwegian friend invited us to stay with him because a flat in his home had become vacant unexpectedly.
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