I suppose that vacations are very much on people's minds as summer approaches. If you're anything like me, you spend a fair amount of time planning your vacation - and too much time daydreaming about it.
Vacations are essential - and they are biblical.
Jesus defended his disciples when they were accused of violating the Sabbath by picking and eating grain along the road one Saturday. He reminded his opponents that by observing the Sabbath and taking time off from their everyday obligations, humans are able to work better. The Hebrew Scriptures even give farmers the injunction that their fields should have a yearly Sabbath. Every seventh year a field should lie fallow in order that it might produce better thereafter. The gospels tell of several occasions when Jesus went off by himself, away from the crowds.