Most of us don’t actually realize how much stress we experience in our modern lifestyles until we distance ourselves from our normal routines by getting away somewhere totally different.

This week I’m enjoying a beach vacation with extended family at Ocean Isle Beach, NC–only 45 minutes from where I live, but miles away from my normal day-to-day life. Planning ahead for my beach vacation, I packed not only the basics like food and clothing, but files for travel articles I needed to write, a notebook full of photography instruction to read and organize as well as other miscellaneous tasks.

Well, I’m halfway through my vacation and I’ve done none of my planned work. But what I have done is LIVE IN THE MOMENT with morning walks on the beach; spontaneous photography moments; fun family games with silliness and laughter; and eating lots of junk food without feeling guilty!

We can become so disciplined, so organized and so future-focused in our lives that we forget how to just BE. This is also true in our spiritual lives. When Moses asked God for His Name to tell the Israelites, God said to tell them I AM sent you. Notice, God said I AM, not, I HAVE BEEN or I WILL BE–just I AM, present tense! Is your God a God of the present or has He become a God of the past–someone you once knew intimately but now that relationship has become just a routine squeezed into a hectic lifestyle. Do you enjoy moments of just BEING in God’s presence?

Take some time, get off the treadmill of life and just BE with God your Creator, Redeemer, Lover!