Making the Most of Your Family Vacation

The Johnson clan is headed to the beach next week. A kind family in our church offered us their condo for a week, so we are feeling pretty blessed right now. Seven days of doing a whole lot of nothing sounds pretty good to each of us.

In trying to think about a way to make our time away both relaxing AND intentional, I'm going to steal an idea from the Women's Minister at our church. It's a simple little trick to connect the family together and to bring God into the mix every day.

Marsha has told us many stories about her family vacations with her daughters and their families. From what I gather, their tradition is to have a nightly "growth time" while they are away. They might all read a book beforehand or they might each individually bring a devotional though on a common theme so that everybody gets to share something. I'm not sure the exact logistics of what they do, but I'm seriously digging the general idea. It's a family that is striving to make sure that their time together is not wasted.

So here's what the Johnsons have planned (I'll let you know in a few weeks how it actually turns out):

I have asked each person in our family to prepare a brief "family discussion" for one of our nights away. Depending on the age of the "leader," there will obviously be a great variety in the depth of content brought. But I am telling them to include the Bible (obviously) as well as some discussion questions that make sure we are willing to apply the truth. Sounds pretty cut and dry, right?

Well here's the catch:

The "topic" they choose has to be one that they personally struggle with. They have to be willing to examine the scriptures and consider application to something God has been dealing with them in their own lives. And by the way, I'm offering my services to each of my kids if they need ideas of what they need to share on. Likewise, I'm willing to have them suggest what I need to teach on. I can't wait to see how it turns out.

I don't know what you have planned for any summer getaways over the next few months, but I'd love to know what you plan to do to make it a God-focused time. Feel free to comment your heart out!