Worry Free Vacation

But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Matthew 6:33-34 (NIV)

I get very little sleep as a vacation approaches. There are all kinds of things I am anxious about and I lie in bed thinking about them. Then, I pop up out of bed to make a list, check on a detail or find something I might need and tuck it into the suitcase. By the time I get where I am going, I am usually so exhausted I have to go to bed early the first night. As time grew closer to leave for Pensacola Beach and our visit with our oldest son, these are some of the things on my worry list and how they were resolved.

Did I make the right choice on a place to stay? My husband always leaves that decision to me, and usually, I enjoy planning a trip. But, this time, my choices were complicated by the enormous selection, condos, town homes, houses, hotels and cottages. I had to find a place near the beach for youngest son and his girlfriend to play, a pool for me, cable television for my husband and enough bedrooms for all of us. I also wanted to make sure my parents were comfortable so when I was tempted to close my eyes and just pick one, I didn’t. The townhouse is lovely. Not right on the beach as we had hoped, but close enough to walk to it easily, with a view of a lagoon and the pool. No worries.

Should I have ignored my desire to have a family portrait on the beach? I started thinking that this might be the last time we will probably have all of our family together in one place again and I really wanted one of those casual family portraits taken on the beach. Pensacola has a lot of photographers who will do that and though the first one I called was not available, she recommended someone else who was easy to work with. My sons and their girlfriends though not enthusiastic cooperated. I think there will be some really good ones to choose from. My dad, whose opinion I was also worried about, said later that evening, “Thanks for the photo session tonight.” The kids were teasing him thinking he was being sarcastic, and he replied, “No, really. Thanks. It was a lot of fun.” No worries.

Would we all get along? Putting eight people in close proximity to each other can cause problems especially when most of those people have very strong personalities. We have had enough options about how to spend our day that every one has been happy. My dad, the scheduler spent 15 minutes on the beach and asked me what else we were going to do! But, he has been taking pictures and editing them on my computer so all is well. My mom just likes having her family around. The kids have been on the beach and in the pool. My spot is the picture above. I love to watch the waves and listen to the sounds of water and birds. No worries.

So, all the things I fretted over have turned out okay. And the one thing I couldn’t have imagined is the problem. The swans in the lagoon outside our townhouse have six babies and the male is very aggressive. We were warned to avoid him, and have been, but today, walking to the pool, he went after my mom and my oldest son jumped in to protect her and got bit. An attack swan. Not something even the most consummate worrier could have dreamed up. Lesson learned. Sit back and enjoy the journey. God holds the future and can be trusted to work it out for the best. No worries.