Why is it that my house is always cleanest right before a trip?  While I’m doing loads of laundry to pack and making sure the dishes are done, I figure I might as well hit the floors and clean out the fridge.  Then, I put fresh sheets on the bed and finish with Febreze on the couches, and before I know it, my house is squeaky clean and smelling good – just in time for me to leave it. 

This week is no different.  I’m flying to DC and then headed to Virginia for Thanksgiving week at my sister’s house.  So, I’ll have to wait a week to enjoy my cleared off counters and my clean bathrooms.  And that’s fine by me.  I’m ready for a getaway.  I’m ready to see my family. 

The last getaway I had was in the opposite direction.  Earlier this year, we flew to south Florida and then drove down to the Keys for a week of exploring and eating under the summer sun.  This is an excerpt from my journal in June.

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In Islamorada

I traveled today to a part of Florida I have never known – a place where poincianas bloom and roosters roam, a place that owes so much to the aquamarine water surrounding it.  As we drove from our resort, across the seven-mile bridge, to Key West – to the very edge of America – I noticed a subtle shift.  Mangroves replaced live oak trees.  Traffic and strip malls gave way to water.  And peace settled in place of preoccupation. 

Vacation is a good thing, especially in a place as beautiful as this.  The water is unlike anything I’ve ever seen!  It’s as green as it is blue.  And it’s everywhere you look, this vast, fluorescent water that’s waiting to be waded into.  Water like that is worth the drive, and it refreshes my soul to see it. 

Refreshing.  If I could describe what I want from this trip in one word, that would be it.  And isn’t that what vacation is all about?

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I will fully satisfy the needs of those who are weary and fully refresh the souls of those who are faint.

Jeremiah 31:25 NASB

A Soul Refresh

I love that we read “fully” twice in this verse, as if to really drive home the point that God is able to fully meet our needs.  Fully, completely, perfectly.  Not partially.  He is able to meet our needs when they need to be met and exactly how they need to be met. 

Also, the footnote for Jeremiah 31:25 in the New English Translation (NET) explains that the verb tense used is the “prophetic perfect,” meaning “the actions are as good as done.” The emphasis is on the surety of God meeting our needs. Since we have this promise, we don’t need to doubt if our needs will be met.  It’s as good as done.  He will fully satisfy our needs and fully refresh those who are faint. 

And it doesn’t take a vacation to do it.

So, as we enter the holiday season and the hustle and bustle it can bring, I hope we remember to pause and rest in the midst of the busyness, to come to Him with our needs, and to tap into His ever-flowing stream of refreshing. 

“The Lord will guide you always; He will satisfy your needs… You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.”  Isaiah 58:11 NIV

Happy holidays to you!