Vacation Servitude

 I recently got back from an amazing vacation.
 After being gone to California for a month for work, my husband decided we needed to go on a cruise to celebrate our upcoming 10th Anniversary and reconnect.  We went to the Caribbean on Norwegian and loved it all!  We ate delicious food;

 We enjoyed a variety of wonderful shows;

 And we got to dress up in summer clothes!  That may seem like a silly thing, but to me, this was huge!

 During our time of planning and then enjoying this amazing blessing, I was conflicted off and on.  Was this the right thing to do with our money?  Especially since we are trying to do with less.  Does this make us hypocritical?
I never really resolved these questions entirely, but I have a clear conscious.  Mostly because it's done and I can't change that part.  One thing that we could do on this trip was to make sure we were full of grace throughout.  It was an amazing thing to feel how entitled we felt once we entered this land of luxury.  Any small inconvenience was initially felt as a huge affront to us personally.  I am so glad that Pat took the lead to use these moments to extend grace to others.  It made the trip so much more enjoyable for us, but it also gave us perspective through the trip.  We found ourselves reaching out and wanting to connect with those who were meant to serve us.  We talked as extensively as we could with our Maitre 'D, Assistant Maitre 'D, our waiters, the guest services people, our shore excursion directors, etc.  We learned how difficult it was for them to be away from family, how they met their spouses on the ship, and how they had plans for when they would be done with their contracts!  I left realizing that my goal had been to let them know that I thought they were people and valuable.  I wanted to let them know I cared about them.

I don't know if God wants us to forgo all things that are beyond the necessary, but I do believe we can share His love in everything we do.  This was one place where we felt the push to feel superior to those who were serving us, and we had the opportunity to lift them up.  I am so thankful for a husband who can see how to serve others even in the midst of a vacation!  I can't wait to see how God molds us in the next decade!