One summer day I couldn’t find the silverware drawer. I stood in my kitchen and turned in a complete circle while eyeing various possibilities. On my second attempt, I tugged on the drawer with the contents I needed.

That same day I forgot my laptop password. I also hesitated a few extra seconds when figuring out how to shift my car into reverse. This lapse in performing routine tasks amused me much more than it alarmed me. I had just returned from a week’s vacation. My brain had been detached from its routines. 

That’s full relaxation!

The “rest” of vacation arrived like a welcome friend at a party. But when it was over, I had more cleanup than I wanted. The volume of e-mail messages in my inbox was shouting for attention. The lawn needed mowing, the garden weeding. Schedules I could forget about on vacation became pressing and important again. Then there was mail sorting and luggage to unpack.

Not only were these chores suffering badly from vacation deprivation, but I also felt the pressure of deadlines looming just ahead. One by itself wasn’t bad, but the sum total of tasks ganged up to overwhelm me with fear and frustration.

For a brief moment I wished I hadn’t gone on vacation. On second thought, I wished I had stayed on vacation!

Some think of life without stress as a reward from a god for the good they’ve done. For others who don’t look devoutly to any god at all, it’s the goal of life. At times they enjoy the smooth sailing of personal achievements or accolades, satisfying relationships, or simply the fulfillment of daily needs without the interruption of serious setbacks. Life is good!

But most know stress. Deadlines approach. Unresolved guilt returns in yet another form. Within a day, sometimes even less, the happy-go-luckyperson finds herself buried miserably in stress or immerses himself in irresponsible workaholism. And the only answer lies hopelessly in the source of the problem: oneself.

I believed my Savior’s relentless love held the answer to my postvacation fears and frustrations. At the same time, sinful thoughts still led me to consider I’d never get out of this mess until I worked it all out myself. It didn’t take long to reach the ultimate conclusion: another vacation!

This time it would be an endless vacation. “For anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from his own work” (Hebrews 4:10).