Down Time 

   Down time, time away from the normal routine can be a good thing and is needed at times.  I believe there are three types of down times.

   The first is the time we take away from work and spend time with our families.  The trips we may take, the places we see as a family help build family relationships as well as giving memories that last a lifetime.  I remember the first time we took the kids to Disney World.  The joy my wife and I shared on that trip was mainly brought about by happiness we saw in the kids.  I still remember the weird looks when people would open an over-head bin on the airplane and find it filled with the huge stuffed Pluto my oldest daughter had insisted on having.

   The same type of time away brings a different, but in some ways more happiness; when it’s just the two sharing a new adventure together.  I remember the day my wife walked in and asked if I wanted to go to Paris next week.  She had found a great deal on the trip, so we took it.  We had a great time.  Paris was such a special place to share with the most special woman in the world.

   I recently experienced another type of down time.  I took a week and went to a Benedictine Abbey for retreat.  No phones, no computer, just the beauty of rural Oklahoma and the abbey.  It was a week of time with my Lord, seeking to better understand His will for me and my life.  I highly recommend that everyone take some time away from the world and spend it alone with God.

   The last type of down time is what I’ve known the last several days; one that came not by choice but by illness.  I didn’t have Covid, and they tell me I didn’t have the flu, so just a nasty cold I guess.  But one that was debilitating and that I am still not completely over.  However, I found that even this unplanned, undesired down time had some advantages; it gave me plenty of time to read and speak with the Lord.  At times I could barely do anything else.  I became so aware of the blessing of health that I and most everyone seem to take for granted.

   Whether for fun with family or just with that special person, a planned time away with the Lord, or even a period of sickness, they all remind me of the many blessings of God.