No. 48: You Still Have to Eat on Vacation

When your routine changes, don't forget the food your soul needs

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“Do you brush your teeth on vacation?”

I read that question in an article about habits years ago. The writer was addressing how changing locations tends to throw off all of our routines. Her point was simple: travel doesn’t eliminate what’s essential. Just because we leave town doesn’t mean we stop doing what we know is needed for our physical well-being. Even on vacation, we brush our teeth, keep taking our medications, and make time for regular meals.

Right now, I’m writing at my desk with an open suitcase behind me, the beginnings of what I need to pack scattered all over my bed: A few bathing suits. Hiking boots. Prescription meds. And, yes—a toothbrush.

For this upcoming vacation, I’m trying to pack lighter than I normally would, so I’ve found myself mentally weighing every item and reconsidering whether its essential. The fourteen library books that became available at the same time? I probably shouldn’t try to stack those in a suitcase.

And my Bible? It’s heavy when added to a small backpack. Will I really have time to read it?

Earlier today, I started calculating the number of chapters of my Bible reading plan that I’d need to make up if I skipped reading while I was away—then I realized I was asking the wrong question. Instead of wondering how much I’d have to catch up on later, a better question was whether I believed God’s Word was as essential on vacation as it is at home. Do I consider daily Bible reading as necessary as brushing my teeth?

The Routines That Remain

Several years ago, I attempted to pack a suitcase with a broken elbow wrapped in a sling and prepared to move in with my parents.

Those first few days after I had surgery, I stayed in the same clothes and couldn’t shower. All I really needed were the two things I kept on the bedside table overnight: a bottle of pain pills, which I wasn’t supposed to swallow without food, and a handful of almonds, which I could barely stretch far enough to grab with my good arm at two a.m.

This routine of waking up and reaching for almonds lasted through weeks of little sleep and months of living out of that suitcase. I craved routine. In an upside-down season of pain and with an abnormal schedule, I found two rules to be true:

1. No matter what’s going on, you still have to eat.

2. You feel worse if you try to take pills on an empty stomach.

I began to realize this is true for our spiritual needs too. I had put off reading the Bible altogether because the situation didn’t allow for me to study at my usual time in my normal place using my preferred method. But as I was recovering from surgery, I woke up one morning and realized the difference it would make if I rolled over, brushed a rogue almond off my pillow, and opened the Bible app on my phone.

When life takes a turn, or when we leave town, most of us tend to push Bible reading aside until our circumstances return to normal. If we’re not able to sit down at our kitchen table for a quiet hour of in-depth study, we don’t even crack open God’s Word. Somewhere along the way, we’ve told ourselves that if we’re not able to feast, we shouldn’t eat at all, not realizing that a handful of almonds in the middle of the night is far better than allowing our souls to starve.

Food in the Desert

In Exodus 16, the Israelites were, metaphorically speaking, living out of a suitcase. It was “the fifteenth day of the second month after they had left the land of Egypt” (v. 1). Their disorientation was on a level we cannot begin to comprehend. They were tired. They were frustrated. They were hungry.

And God was gracious. He began providing food for them to eat in the wilderness. He gave them meat to eat at twilight and manna to satisfy them in the morning (Ex. 16:8). Through the practice of supplying them with daily meals, God was showing them:

• He would provide: not always in ways they expected but in ways that they needed.

• He would continue to look after them and sustain them in a hard place.

• He would be faithful to do what He said that He would do, day after day.

In the desert, in their wandering, the Israelites ate. What other choice did they have? They needed the food to live. God kept providing—even when they despised it and desperately wanted something different (Num. 11:4–6). Whether they chose to accept them or not, the predictability of this mealtime routine gave God’s people opportunities to turn their attention to His continued faithfulness.

We have opportunities in this current season to consume God’s Word. We have moments today where we can turn to Scripture and allow it to reorient the rest of our day. The question isn’t whether God will provide—He’s already given us His Word. The question is whether we’ll find a few moments to eat and to remember the One whose hand our nourishment comes from—even in an upside down season. Even while we’re on vacation.

In Joshua 5, the manna stopped coming. But let’s rewind for a moment: imagine a montage of all the different places the Israelites ate throughout forty years. Picture a map with a wafer at every point where they went out to gather what they needed to survive.

You may not be able to map out what the rest of this year (or this week) will look like, but imagine a map of all the places you could consume Scripture, especially in an unusual season.

• What if you could look back months from now and find a trail of wafers leading from your bed to your baby’s nursery, where you returned to reread the same chapter every night?

• What if there was a marker on every waiting room chair to represent all the times you read parts of the Gospels before seeing a doctor?

• What if there was one wafer inside each of your shoes, for all the afternoons you laced them up, went on a walk, and listened to an audio version of God’s Word?

• What if there was a wafer at every airport gate, where you exchanged a few minutes of scrolling for time in God’s Word? Or on the bedside table of your hotel room, where you spent time reading before the day’s adventures began?

For the Israelites, not every meal was memorable. But if they had gone without eating, they never would have made it through the desert—and neither will we.

No Pills on an Empty Stomach

You already know that when you don’t eat, it’s harder to stomach what comes next. When you fill up on Scripture, even when it’s only a few bites at a time, you are more prepared to embrace your circumstances and face whatever comes next. God’s Word gives you:

• Encouragement. “For whatever was written in the past was written for our instruction, so that we may have hope through endurance and through the encouragement from the Scriptures” (Rom. 15:4).

• Perspective. “Dear friends, don’t be surprised when the fiery ordeal comes among you to test you, as if something unusual were happening to you. Instead, rejoice as you share in the sufferings of Christ” (1 Pet. 4:12–13).

• Gratitude. “For the LORD is good, and his faithful love endures forever; his faithfulness, through all generations” (Psalm 100:5).

• Courage. “He will not fear bad news; his heart is confident, trusting in the LORD” (Psalm 112:7).

• Acceptance. “For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever. Amen” (Rom. 11:36).

The passage you meditate on in your baby’s nursery might remind you that this season, though exhausting, is a gift. The Gospel stories you read in the waiting room might replace anxious thoughts with reminders that Christ is with you. The Psalms you listen to while walking could provide the courage you need for the rest of the afternoon. And the verses you read at the airport gate might help you notice God’s goodness in the place you’re about to explore, increase your patience to serve those you’re traveling with, or open your eyes to view the people around you who don’t yet know Jesus with the compassion Christ has for them.

Choosing to consume God’s Word daily isn’t about maintaining a reading streak, checking a box, or believing we can earn God’s favor by participating in a spiritual discipline. It’s knowing our own needs and turning to the God who can satisfy them, trusting He’s able to do far more than we imagine, even with a few handfuls of truth.

A Handful at a Time

The Israelites moved on from manna eventually. When they arrived in the promised land, they discovered “a land of wheat, barley, vines, figs, and pomegranates; a land of olive oil and honey” (Deut. 8:8), and they no longer needed the meals that sustained them in the desert. In both places—but in different ways—God provided food, and they ate.

Eventually, we’ll move on too—we’ll find more time or greater capacity for bigger meals and more moments to spend in God’s Word, whether our circumstances change or we simply return home from vacation.

Later, we can linger at the table. Until then, don’t mistake a smaller meal for no meal at all. Nourish your heart and mind with the truth of God’s Word, trusting that God can turn even the smallest handful of truth into a feast for your soul.

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Eyes on the Horizon

Questions, reflections, and Scripture to set your hope on eternity with Jesus.

• Do you tend to postpone Bible reading because you can’t do it in an “ideal” way?

• What is one small, realistic way you can continue nourishing your soul with God’s Word while away from your normal routine?

• How does God’s faithfulness through His Word in the midst of today’s “wilderness” strengthen your hope in the promised home that is still to come?

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One Day Closer

Lord, thank You for faithfully sustaining Your people in every season. Help me not to neglect Your Word when my circumstances change, but to value Your Word more than my comfort and my routines. When my days are ordinary or disrupted, let those moments be a reminder that I won’t truly be home until I’m with You. Thank You, Lord, that I’m one day closer to that being my reality.

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Keep Reading:

5 Resources that Have Deepened My Time in God’s Word

Accidentally Abandon Your Bible Reading Plan?

10 Ways to Grow Your “Want To” for God’s Word

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A version of this article first appeared as “Truth in Small Bites Is Truth Nonetheless” on ReviveOurHearts.com.