Prayer #76: Travel Guide


Vacation. n. From the Latin "vacare," which means "to be empty, void, or free." As in you empty your worries, void your calendar, and free your heels to set off on paths unknown.

Prayer #76: Travel Guide

By train or plane or bus or rickshaw -- go!
Get out of here! Don't stand around and wait
for Earth to gape her mouth and swallow you
so you end up in China just by falling.

The longer you keep put, the slower you
make plans to meet the world, the faster you'll
arrive at Nowhere-upon-Nobody --
a lonely intersection, rich with zilch.

Our God did not devote those seven days
to building a miraculous orb so we
could fritter off the hours, days, and years
ignoring it when we should be exploring it.

For if God saw fit to create this world,
then we have equal duty to hit pause
and re-create ourselves within it, new --
a divine arc of pure, essential links.

So by boat or skis or foot or llama -- go!
To stand still is to sin by omission.
God never wants to hear "Wish you were here";
Just send a postcard from the map's far edge.

Amen.