Alright kids, let’s do this.
My “one month review” is soon to be a “two month review” if I don’t get a move on.
It’s true. It’s been over a month now. On April 30th we boarded that nicer than expected NorwegianAir plane and set off for Italy. Since then, Mary and I have been in the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Switzerland, France, Austria, Sweden, and Slovenia. My goodness, are we insane??
I think we might be.
The pace of our travels is finally slowing down and we are enjoying the rhythm we much prefer when abroad. So far this month we’ve only been in Italy. And there shall we remain until the last week of June when we flee the Schengen for Croatia.
We’ve seen many things and been many places this past month, but when I reflected on what I most wanted to communicate to you lovely people, the central point was very clear: Everything sucks without Christ.
I know the common belief is that if you’re traveling and seeing the world then you must be the happiest person on the planet and your life must be the best life. I can tell you right now as someone who has been traveling and seeing the world for a month straight, that simply is not true.
I have neither been the happiest nor the most fulfilled this past month, and I can identify the culprit quite easily.
When I was back living in Northern California, I had a pretty sweet routine in place. Wake up at 6am. Make me and Mary some bomb dot com Avocado Toast and a side of Irish Breakfast Tea. Drop Mary off at work at 7am. Then drive to the Target parking lot to read my Bible and pray until 9am. At which point I drove to Newcastle to walk Meg the Labrador. I typically multi-tasked those walks and read something by Andrew Murray or Corrie Ten Boom or simply used the opportunity to walk and talk with God.
Not a bad way to start the day, my friends.
Now swap that with the chaos of international travel, attempting to line up your travel plans with other people’s travels plans, and the pressure to “make the most” out of being in whatever city you’re in. Devotional times get shorter. Tourist Attractions begin to lose their luster. And soon you feel like butter scraped over too much bread.
After a month of this madness, you’re staring out the window of your Milan AirBnB consumed by the utter meaninglessness of it all, wishing you could snap your fingers to get the hell out of there.
This is all a hypothetical of course.
If hypothetical means that’s exactly what happened.
Because, let me tell you, tourism gets old pretty fast. It may be nice for a little bit, maybe even a longer bit if you have no desire to do anything meaningful with your life. But the utter self-centeredness of it wears on ones' nerves pretty quick. Or at least it wears on my nerves.
The whole of this month hasn’t been complete garbage, mind you. In the beginning of the month we got to hang out with Sean in Ceske Budejovice and meet some of his friends there. We were able to join him for a young adults Bible study and to go with him to Czech church that Sunday. We weren’t expecting to be able to see Sanne so soon in our trip, but it worked out that we could meet up with her in Zurich the day before her birthday. We even got to meet her boyfriend and stay with a couple of his friends.
Perhaps it was the beauty of these moments that revealed the drabbiness of everything else.
What I do know for certain, is there’s a limit to how long we can survive without food. Without water. Without air.
And the Word of God is my food. The Spirit of God is my air.
Pretty locations won’t keep my alive. Crowds of people gawking at the Duomo doesn’t breath life into my soul.
Theses things can keep you distracted for awhile. They can even convince you that you’re “doing something.” As the great Georg Von Trapp once said, “activity suggests a life filled with purpose.”
But it doesn’t last. Eventually you’re gonna realize there’s no purpose in it.
Which is why I’m actively saying “no.” No to whatever external pressure there might be, but more than that, no to the internal pressure I bring on my own. We head off for Florence next and will only be there for two days. Rather than succumbing to the notion that I must “see as many of the sites as possible” because “I may never be here again, Ack!” I will make quality time with the Lord my priority. Whatever sites I manage to see after that is fine and dandy. But it may be that God is calling me to do something else entirely that day. I may not see a single "site" in Florence. I would much rather have that be the case than to miss out on what God wants to say to me or what he has in store for me.
There are so many sneaky sneaks that are trying to get up on God’s throne and traveling doesn’t change that. They just take new shapes. There is no tourist attraction, no sculpture, no city, no painting, no person, even, that deserves my attention more than God does.
First things first, y’all. That’s all I’m saying.
And remember, those gorgeous travel pictures don’t come with the smell. They may look beautiful and perfect. You may look at my instagram feed and work up a covet. But know that sometimes it stinks. Life can stink anywhere. But life can also be good anywhere. Because God.
Got it?
Good.
As always, I love ya.
-Heather
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