Stupidly Impossible Questions

You know those stupidly impossible questions morning radio hosts ask callers. I don’t mean the CBC, I’ve never heard the CBC do it. But I will reconsider listening the day Matt and Mitch start using sound effects. The question I heard the other day, at a time when I was not in control of what station we listened to, was “what thing do employees not do that they should?”

A million answers came to my mind (I exaggerate slightly) before the announcer reveals the obvious answer, “they don’t take all their vacation time.” We need to be careful not to rely on the statistics presented on a radio show just before weird bells, whistles and horns are sounded. But, if it’s true, if most people don’t take their allotted vacation time, we are in serious need of reevaluation of our priorities.

Recreation, as an activity of leisure is not about doing nothing, it is about re-creating ourselves. That’s what the word originally meant, it is a holy time and time to re-make, re-form, re-create ourselves. It is holy-time and that is why I never use the term vacation to refer to what is more properly termed – holidays.

I have yet to find that part of the Biblical creation story where God apologizes for resting on the seventh day. And no apology is necessary. Rest is good. Rest is God-given. Yet, I don’t think we need to take on the attitude that I deserve my holidays. Rather, I owe my employer my holidays. It is the very thing that will give me the energy, attitude and patience I need to do my work more effectively and productively.

We owe holy-time to our employers, just as we owe holy-time to God. Enjoy your holy-time, be it an hour on a Sunday morning or a trip away. But please remember, it is all holy-time.