Friday, January 9, 2009

Pausing to Savor What is Lasting

On a blog dedicated to conserving what is valuable, I believe this post about a most precious resource is fitting. But first some background.

Last weekend we spent away, just the two of us, in Galax, VA. What is there to see in Galax? Well, with no offense at all intended to the Galaxians, I can confidently say that we didn't go there to see the Galaxical sights, and we were not disappointed. We got a book at a nice little shop on Main Street, and we enjoyed the local Applebee's, but, despite the fact that Galax can boast of being the "World Capital of Old Time Gospel Music," the town's major source of revenue is likely not tourism. . . unless we missed something. Which is possible, because we didn't venture out of our cabin much. The point of our getaway was not to drink in local flavor.

We mapped out our own version of a couple retreat. I've seen this kind of thing promoted some since we've come back, but until then I thought it was an original idea. We came up with our own program.

It was a very refreshing time to cherish what we love most on earth--God's Word and each other. We blocked out an hour at a time to talk through our goals for this year and assess our past progress in several areas of life. We even had a session on finances and were amazed really at the way the Lord has provided for us. It was amusing (and encouraging) to see how drastically our grocery bills had been reduced since I started looking at "my blogs." But most of all, we were eager to begin 2009 as more aggressive givers after seeing the abundance with which the Lord has blessed us.

As fun as the financial session was--that one was my job, and I indulged myself by providing a brief PowerPoint show replete with charts and pictures--we both greatly needed and greatly benefited from the times of intense spiritual discussion. "Let's do this for a while every week," was a unanimous decision. While for most of life it is profitable to savor fleeting moments and make the most of conserving the valuable "as you go," it is also profitable, at times, to devote yourself to intentionally savoring what will last forever.

*Special thanks to my in-laws. This whole thing really must be attributed to their consistent and urgent injunctions dating all the way back to before Paul had stopped nursing to "Go someplace and let us keep Paul." But seriously, Paul had a great time drinking all his milk with chocolate and being dragged around in his new waggon every time he so much as looked its direction. Thanks, guys! We couldn't have done it without you.

2 comments:

Deborah said...

Take 2. (Please ignore if you got my first attempt to comment...)

Praise the Lord! What a great idea... Sounds like a good way to start a new year. You are a good example and blessing to me!

Que Dios te bendiga ricamente!

Lori said...

My husband and I went to some cabins a while back for a couple days. It was in the middle of nowhere, no tv, no internet, nothing around. We stayed at the cabin and hiked the mountains, he fished the river, I read lots of books, it was the most enjoyable vacation we have ever been on, we are planning on going back as soon as we can. It is so amazing that when you take away all of our modern conveniences how much you can do and learn.