Vacay 2011

There´s something whimsical about vacation. It´s the kind of thing that gives you jittery excitement in your stomach two months before it starts. And once you´re in it, you´re reminded once more that life is more than to-do lists, deadlines, meetings, cleaning the apartment, and buying cheap yoghurt when it´s on sale. And just because you have disappointing summer weather where you live...doesn´t mean that the whole world is cloudy.
We just got back from our summer vacation a few days ago. It was GREAT. It was like we had shifted our gaze upwards and no longer saw the tedious things in life. Instead, we were memorized by the beauty of God´s creation and sovereignty. Isn´t it spectacular to know that life isn´t about our schedules but about the fact that God loves us and wants to be intimate with us?
OK, I´m getting ahead of myself. Like I said, we just got back from vacation a few days ago. We spent 5 days in Grasse, France. Then we flew home and drove up the Baltic Sea for 3 days. On the way home, we spent a few days with relatives in Hamburg. Some of our highlights include sightseeing with friends in France, swimming in the Mediterranean, standing on the Formula 1 race track in Monaco, eating pizza in Italy, walking along the coast at the Baltic Sea, and touring through the Hamburg area. Each part of our vacation was refreshing and unique.
However, one moment particularly stands out. It was while we were driving on the coast of Nice. As we were winding through palm trees and views of the Mediterranean , we turned a corner and saw something I´ll never forget. It was like a postcard. A small boat harbor surrounded by clusters of tall, pastel-colored buildings. Some were light yellow, others pastel peach or green. And each was artistically withered and aged, complete with wooden shutters and fresh flowers hanging from the windows. I remember looking from the backseat of the car and thinking, "Wow. I don´t think I´ve ever seen anything this beautiful before."
C.S. Lewis writes about beauty in his book, "The Weight of Glory"--a book in which we´re both reading at the moment. Lewis says that when we are captivated by something beautiful and realize that we can do no more than enjoy the beauty as an "outsider," we develop a longing for heaven. It´s so true. What he´s saying that no matter how long I would sit at the harbor and soak in every detail, everything would turn into a faded memory the moment I leave. No postcard or oil painting could bring the beauty of the harbor inside my soul. When we are in the presence of true beauty, we observe as outsiders. But this serves to awaken our hunger for heaven. In heaven, we won´t be spectators of beauty, but we will be a part of it.
In closing, it´s wonderful to know that God shows us beauty for many reasons--to lift our focus from the mundane, to remind us of His sovereignty, and to give us a longing for heaven. So amazing that the same God who orchestrates the big and the small takes time to shift our gaze upward.