"There are two types of passivity. First, there's laziness. That is largely avoidance, an aimless kind of moving around and saying, 'I gotta rest.' Why is it that so much recreation we take is not really re-creation? It does not really renew our spirit. A lot that people call a vacation is simply diversion, or distraction from a life that is already one big distraction. It's finding another kind of stimulation than the usual stimulation we have. We say, I'm not gonna do anything, I'm on vacation. But that isn't the true recreation that re-creates, the true vacation that vacates the overstuffed apartment."(R. Rohr "Radical Grace" p. 281)
In three weeks my sons go back to school. In different parts of the country the same thing will happen at different times over those weeks. While the season of summer doesn't end until late September, the "vacation" season is almost over for those of us with school age children.
I've had my "vacation" already. And Fr. Rohr is correct, it was not relaxing or re-creating. Don't get me wrong, I had a great time. But it was a lot of go, go, go. There was very little quiet time. It is often true that I come back from vacation just as tired as I was before I left.
While a change of scenery is a good thing, I know that to truly clear out the "overstuffed apartment" I would need to go away by myself. I would need to leave my "Julie the cruise director hat" at home. Those rare times that I've been able to go on a true retreat have been very renewing, re-creating, etc. I even have a favorite place to go.
I hope to have some opportunities this fall to go on retreat. And perhaps I might even be able to get to a place where my "sabbath" day, (Friday) is really a sabbath, not just a day when I don't do church work.
Blessings,
Ed
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