VAC-101: Hide and Seek and Find

Arriving home from our final family summer vacation this past Saturday was a success on a couple fronts for me: 1) I reconnected with long-time friends 2) I had lots of beach time and 3) excellent “chair-sitting-feet-propped-up-campfire-staring” rest.  Of these fronts, the most important for me was that I found the rest I needed.  For men out there who are married and have three kids with varying interests, it can be challenging to plan a week of family time camping in the woods. Speaking for myself, I’d love to take a community college course on“How to take a family vacation”. I’d call it  VAC-101, and the class would benefit from my buddy Carl teaching it, whom I’ve taken many cues from on such a blessed topic.  Despite not having such a course, everything came together rather nicely.

My Beach Beauties

While sitting at our campsite in northern Michigan, I was thinking through a common scripture that most of Christianity could cite from memory (and many non-religious folks too): “Seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened to you”. Look for yourself in Matthew 7:7 - feel free to substitute the you’s for ye’s and will’s for shall’s if you desire it. Seeking peace and a true time of rest is something I’ve wanted for all of the family adventures this summer, but it was during this trip that rest arrived in a very real way. 

Pardon the wordy thoughts here....

What occurred to me as I thought about this scripture is that seeking and knocking is actual labor, or work.  And, this “work” is not exactly a cutesy religious formula that automatically results in gold coins, new cars, that certain relationship, a [better] job, warm/fuzzy feelings or a bigger house. Seeking something (in this example, peace and rest) means that I actually have to use my feet, hands, eyes, and mind to intentionally go and look for something.  This also means that I have some idea of what I want to find, while being open to what that “find” ends up being.  It then assumes I have a basic plan mapped out of where and how to actually do the seeking. Once these seeking VAC-101 pre-req’s are completed, then yes, I’ve learned that I will no doubt find “something”.  Here, in this example of vacation, I found peace! 

Finding the “thing” I am in need of has somehow been interwoven with the actual process of seeking. Thus, the “seek” is absolutely critical to the find.  For me, the “find” is something that comes unearthed or revealed while the process of seeking is taking place. For instance, I usually grab hold of a portion of the “find” somewhere during “mid-seek”. The interesting thing, though, is the seek never seems to really end and the “find” keeps being uncovered.  Rereading all this, I guess it’s a bit wordy and probably a bad use of quotation marks and grammar.....but my editor is not home right now.....so I’ll summarize like this: the seek is work and is also continual. The find isn’t necessarily limited to one object found through the process of seeking.

Saint Gregory: Worker of Impossible Causes

The peace I had this past week gave me the opportunity to sit in a comfortable chair and contemplate this life journey I have been given.  In doing so, I was grateful for meeting Father Wayne at St. Simon Parish this week, as well as another vacationer from Texas, Deacon Len. While attending Mass early each morning, I had some time to seek God with people I did not know, and with a community I was not directly part of.  The feeling of this experience was rich and collective. The entire audience was there to seek God first thing in the morning each day. To me, this is an aspect about the ancient Catholic church that is so remarkable: everywhere I go, I can put forth the effort of seeking God alongside a rich and collective group of people.  And, I can do this everyday - consuming the body of Christ (physical) and being the body of Christ (spiritual). My “find” then, is a different level of peace; the kind that bursts mundane understanding, and reveals something that was hidden from my sight. It is a little intimidating when I notice that things aren’t really as they seem; that there is something hidden just under the surface. I just need to seek.

Now that we are well into the month of August, I’m pretty far along into my fifth month of sabbatical.  I suppose I can begin to check off the “do-the-things-that-I-find-restful” box, and start working on the “become-a-different-person” box.  So, in an effort to do this I will be boarding a plane and headed to a place steeped in church history.  I welcome the reader of this blog to prayerfully join me as my next big journey (literal and figurative) takes me to Rome, Assisi, and Southern Bavaria (Germany).   The purpose of this pilgrimage is to “Seek God”.  During this pilgrimage, the Second Strait will continue to be published (provided an internet connection is available), however the entries may be shorter - but possibly more frequent. Please pray that all goes well with this rather intense “seek”.  Continue the pursuit! Find what is covered!