I had just spent a fantastic three day vacation, with my family and some friends, on a beach on the Southern tip of the South Korean peninsula.

I was in a taxi with my daughter Becca and her friends, on the way from the hotel in Busan to the train station.  We were beginning the journey home.  In the back seat the kids were all bemoaning the fact that they had to go back to school and do lots of schoolwork, projects etc.  This made me think about my own responsibilities that I had to face upon returning from vacation.  As I listened to the kids and to my own thoughts of anxiety and dread regarding the "real life" responsibilities that I had to return to, I realized that the good time that I had just had was beginning to recede in my mind.

I don't think this is right.  Real life and worries should not be allowed to consume our minds so that we forget the blessings of God in our lives.

There is always a real life to return to after a time of goodness, joy and blessing in our lives.  God does not want us to allow these pressures to overshadow his presence in our lives.  I want to remember the blessings, continue to smile at the memories of Busan and savor the time that I had together with my family and my friends in that place.  I can't allow the pressures of real life to cloud my thinking and blind me from the goodness that God has bestowed into my life.

As I think about it--most people in the world will never have a time like I just spent in Busan with my family and friends.  Along with that, most people in the world will never have the opportunity to feel the pressure and responsibility of the challenges that I am facing in life.  I have a challenging yet fulfilling job; I am working on a graduate degree and have some deadlines looming; I have many relationships and friendships to maintain and invest in...all of this is weighty...but oh such a privilege. 

I pray that God will help me to see things this way.  I now understand a bit better Jesus' comment that "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven."