Skip to main content

Sabbatical

 When I first started my last teaching job nine years ago, they offered a year of sabbatical every nine years. Can you imagine? One year to do and explore and learn that was paid! They took it away shortly after I was hired and I never made it. But guess what? We can take our own sabbatical any time. You are probably saying, there's no way. The world would come crashing to a halt if I took one year off, let alone one day. And I'm sure you'd be right. But what if we took moments of sabbatical? What if we took an hour a day? a minute an hour? One day a week? Here's a history of the Jewish feast of Sabbath. A day of rest. A day of quiet. No work. No labor. No striving. Sounds glorious, doesn't it? No travel, no cooking, no cleaning. That is impressive. (Ironically, this link here is from Rabbi Rifat Sonsino, PhD., a professor at Boston College, where we just got back from a visit with our daughter. It's all connected!)
 A sabbatical is a break or change from normal routines. Isn't it amazing that many spiritual traditions had this time built into their yearly calendars? I think we have something to gain from this ancient wisdom, something that we actually really need today, not just personally, but as a society too. Some of the words that are associated with sabbath, or Shabbat, are liberty, relaxation, rest, rejuvenation, respite, interim, breather, inspiration, observe, calming, renew, recharge, listen. What would that mean to you? What would it mean for you to be renewed or rejuvenated?

 This Lent, we combine two traditions to create a new period of rest. One where we step off the treadmill and take time to be slow - intentionally slow, or at least slow-er. How can you find respite in your daily life? Choose one word that you can reflect on for just a moment. What does it mean to you? 
Prayers and blessings, my friend. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Nesting

This morning I am creating a nest. I am building it from scratch with spare parts that have been left around from another owner. We are vacationing in a house on a lake near Grandfathers, since that currently has no running water. We love it up here. It is a place that is carved in our hearts and our stories.  Since this is a foreign house, I am trying to make it feel like home. We have been here for 2 days and now I see the needs and small fixes I can do to make things more ‘ours’.  I have brewed coffee and put away the dishes from last night. I have placed a small rug by the door to catch our shoes that are caked in pine needles and fallen beech leaves and sand from the beach. I have moved the ottoman away from the chair it belongs to so that we have an extra seat. We have more people than it sits. Charlie made a chair with two pillows and leaned them against the end table. We are all working to build the nest. I am using pillows and blankets which I found in an upstairs clo...
Post a Comment
Read more

Bundling

 My husband accuses me of bundling. Like everything. I won't go down the basement until I have collected a pile of everything that could possibly need to go down. So I'll bring the laundry down to the kitchen and then I'll start bundling. The old front door wreath goes on top of the laundry, The drill I used in the garden yesterday - on top. The Fourth of July banner on top of that. I can amass quite a pile. The same goes when I'm out doing errands. I have a doctor's appointment in Mt. Laurel? Hmm. I can stop at the Home Sense store, the big Dollar Tree, the Produce Junction, the Michaels, and the Container Store. All on my way home! I like bundling. Not just because it saves trips, which equates to gas, but it also saves my energy. If I separated those trips it would be hours or even days of travel. I don't have time for that. When I can I want to tie everything together and wrap it up. With a pretty bow.  Bundling was an act of desperation back when the kids w...
Post a Comment
Read more

What Is Grief?

 What is grief? It is standing in the shower and  you are suddenly crying and then you are sobbing. And you barely thought about it in the two days since you heard  your Uncle Rich passed. You thought about your dad and your cousins and your aunt and how sad they must be and you checked in on your dad. "I'm so so sorry." And you went to work and you did what you had to do. And now you are ready for another day and you are thinking of all the things and then you are crying and you are little again and vulnerable  and your heart hurts. And you remember everyone. Medford Lakes and a swimming pool and laughing so hard  and dancing around a Christmas tree and fireworks by the lake at night. And you can see his face and all their faces smiling Aunts and uncles and cousins and brothers who aren't here. And you remember his voice, deep and laughing, and you remember his kindness and his advice. "Are you taking vitamin C, Joannie?" You see all their faces and you mis...
6 comments
Read more