English: Mavericks Surf Contest 2010. Français : Édition 2010 du concours de surf de Mavericks. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

How many times have you heard someone say, “We need a vacation to recover from our vacation”? How many times have YOU said that? Certainly there are reports of the perfect vacation where the time away exceeded expectations; however, it’s more common to try to cram a year’s worth of fun in to a couple of weeks, and then end up experiencing a mixture of stress and disappointment, while vowing to do it differently the next time around.

Here are a few suggestions on how to not be disappointed on a vacation:

1. Don’t suspend your daily devotions—the biblical purpose of times of rest is to restore our connection to God.
2. Set realistic expectations—your visit with the kids and the in-laws won’t be a repeat of that time you were alone in Mexico…
3. Don’t pack too much in—leave a little margin to catch your breath on either side of your days away.
4. Don’t suspend the routines that bring happiness to your every day life—if you’re a morning person who loves to jog, then wake up early and enjoy your run.
5. Try to integrate “vacation” in to your every day life—if we can maintain a rhythm of worship, work, rest, and play in our daily lives, then our vacations are less likely to be rushed attempts at recovering what we’ve lost throughout the year.
6. Surf. Enough said.