Making My Vacation Not About Me by Gini Walker Growing up, my get-away vacations were car trips on Route 66 from California to Arkansas, my family’s roots state. Mom was a schoolteacher and she definitely needed her family connections and time to unwind. During those years, although I was the last of four children, I shared the back seat with just one brother. My sister shared the front seat, wedged between mom and dad, helping them to drive the many miles. My oldest brother was grown and on his own. Those were the years of calling out “are we there yet?” I vaguely remember the never-ending state of Texas as I slept, woke, and saw the Texas state signs again and again. These vacations never held the question “Gini, what do you want to do?” Where my family went, I went. Then I grew up. In those early years of marriage, the catchphrase about vacations was “one week to get ready, two weeks to vacation, and finally a week to recover from the past three weeks”. Yet, as hectic as those days were, I needed time away. I, too, was a teacher. After a few travel-by-car-to-see-family summers, we discovered a new concept in vacations called “vacations with a purpose”. These were trips with groups to “help” people groups or ministries. They were exciting, stretching, meaningful, and memorable times. In our late 20s, 30s and a few early 40s years, my husband and I thrived on the serving aspects of these getaways. Then, we arrived in our “later years” of our 60s and now mid-70s. “Serving While On Vacation,” I thought. That time is over. We don’t go anywhere these days. Vacation? Some people 6PAGE | M5 AG A Z I N E N A M E 3
would say, “Gini, you are ALWAYS on vacation. You are always at home and not working. You don’t need a vacation”. So, I had to dig deep as I considered serving while on vacation. Does God have a place for me in this concept? Before I answer that question, I have a question. It is something men and women my age often ask ourselves, “What is my purpose now that my energy is mostly depleted and I’m feeling the need to have others serve and care for me?” My needs seem to outgrow my abilities. We, the older generation, often feel others see us as “taking up space”. This way of seeing us was a challenge I had difficulty overcoming. I had to fight depression. I had to fight to maintain any physical strength that remained. Then, God called me to meet Him in a place that has become a treasure to me. It is my “quiet place”. My husband knows where it is and he graciously honors this space. He knows what is happening here. It is “my Serving While On Vacation” spot. But it isn’t a two-week out-of-the-year place. I’d like to say it is a daily meeting place but I do sometimes miss my appointment (s) there. Although it isn’t in a closet as beautifully described in the movie “War Room” with Priscilla Shirer and Karen Abercrombie, it is a quiet and sacred place for me to serve in my vacation days of “old age”. What happens here? I have a little bag that holds my prayer requests. In this bag is a little black book. I wrote on the first page: “Abba Father, these are my prayer concerns to YOU through Jesus and the power of
