Spiritually Speaking ... Taking Vacation

Many of us in the United States look forward to summer vacations whether our summers are, in fact, the best times to take them. As it turns out, other times of year could be better for us in a number of ways. For example, on one of the early-morning news shows the other day I heard an “expert” informing viewers that all the companies and individuals who make money when we buy gasoline enjoy the busiest travel month of all in the US, August, because demand for fuel is heaviest; thus, suppliers and sellers can “justify” raising prices throughout the eighth month (as if they have needed any special reasons or excuses of late!).

In any case, we do need vacations, and even though demands on employees in the US are very high, we are typically offered less vacation time than colleagues in other countries and cultures (notably in Europe). Judging from the heavy-duty marketing of travel to LGBT persons, it is possible that non-heterosexuals in the States may find ways to get their vacations despite time-stingy companies.

The ancient Hebrews who imagined how their God could have created the heavens (that is, literally, the skies) and the earth believed that for whatever reason after six days of work even God needed and took a day off. The Hebrew words (shabbat and shavat) from which we get our English “sabbath” meant something like: cease as in ceasing from labor (“ceasing” being a more accurate translation than “rest” or “resting”).

In the modern scientific world where many may scoff at the efforts of the ancients to explain something prescientifically, we can verify and quantify that prolonged periods of physically taxing and/or emotionally stressful work literally steal our health from us. The ancients were on to something after all. If even God needed a rest, certainly woman and man did. We need regular breaks. We need refreshment and relaxation. We need vacations. We need sabbaths!