Have a break, have a picnic

In the fast lane of life, public holidays are those moments when you find yourself behind a 40-footer trailer transporting some huge concrete slabs and flanked by police bikes on both sides. All of a sudden, your speed plummets from 80 to 15 km/h. You can either look left and right impatiently, wish that you have taken another route, or you can say "ah, it's kit-kat time".

Public holidays are a lot like Sabbath. It's an imposed slowing down from the maddening pace of life experienced on other days. Yet, not many people take a real break in the true sense. It's the body versus mind thing in that your body may be resting as in you are not physically in the office, but your mind is at work, or at least thinking about tomorrow.

Since a couple of years ago, I have been making full use of every public holiday. No, I don't take advantage of long weekends to go on short overseas trip. I find that self-defeating as such short getaways usually leave you in need of more getaways to recover. Instead, I would plan to spend time with my extended family, such as my elderly aunts and uncles, cousins, nephews and nieces. My logic is simple. I already spend time over weekends with my immediate family. I spend time on weeknights doing volunteer work, and I spend time on Sundays teaching at Sunday School. What better way to make use of public holidays to catch up with our extended family members whom we meet like once a year during Chinese New Year?

So, we had our second family picnic on Labour Day at the beautiful East Coast beach (the first was Deepavali last year at East Coast too). The beach, sun, sea and all came free of charge. All we needed were some groundsheets, a children's tent, some home-cooked food and snacks (lots of them). Needless to say, we had a great day at the beach, just catching up with one another, over food, drinks, sandcastle-building, cycling, and shell-picking. God was gracious in granting us a sunny weather till we packed up for home late afternoon, after which it started pouring.

What does it really mean to invest in treasures in heaven? I think it includes investing in human relationships. When we move on in life with our own little families, we tend to neglect those precious relationship in our formative years with our parents, siblings, cousins, aunts, uncles, etc. Most families tend to limit relationship building to their immediate family members. I think it's important to continue to stay in touch with our extended family members because they have been a part of our lives. God has given us a wonderful capacity to love, to reach out, and to touch lives. Surely we will not confine this to just our spouses, children, and colleagues?

If you are planning another getaway in the coming long weekend, why not do something different? We don't really need another getaway if we look at the big picture - life with God in paradise IS the ultimate getaway. Instead, plan for some get-together with family members whom you have not been spending much time with. It will be time well-spent.

Have a break, have a great picnic!

Thomas