We are on vacation in the Bahamas. I love this place. Our daily rhythms here are simple…
- Wake up early, put a movie on for the boys while the parents lazily stay in bed or spend time reading or praying on the porch, looking out over the Sea of Abaco…
- A light breakfast, all together…
- A morning water activity – snorkeling on the reef, tubing behind the boat, swimming in the lagoon, wave-jumping at the beach, cruising around in the sea kayak, fishing off the dock or in the marina, etc.
- Everyone having lunch on their own whenever they get hungry, followed by everyone having a “quiet time” – either a nap or just some time reading…
- An afternoon water activity (something we didn’t do in the morning)…
- Dinner together on the porch overlooking the Sea of Abaco…
- Putting the boys to bed…
- More quiet time for the adults to read, sit on the dock and look at the stars, etc.
- To bed early, falling asleep to the sound of the surf outside…
Mixed in to this routine are walks or tennis, an occasional trip to a neighboring island, lots of playing cards or chess or checkers, visiting with others on the island, hunting for hermit crabs and sand dollars. When it rains, we watch a movie, usually the original Star Wars trilogy. There is lots of genuinely quality family time, lots of sleep, lots of fun. Notably absent in these rhythms is anything resembling a firm time commitment or obligation. We don’t ever have to do anything or have to be anywhere…
Our normal lives at home are ordered in particular rhythms that center around “have to’s” – the commitments of work, school, church, soccer, scouts, etc. Those rhythms are monitored by things like alarm clocks and iphones and calendars on the refrigerator. Not here though. Time here is measured in the ebbs and flows of daylight and moonlight, the rise and retreat of the tide, our bodies feeling tired or refreshed or hungry or satisfied. It is Sabbath time filled with the rhythms of rest. And I am grateful for this time and these rhythms…
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