I’m home after a week of (mostly) vacation time in early August. While I enjoyed time with family and friends in New Mexico and Colorado, it’s also good to be back in Arizona. It’s good to reconnect with routines that work for my body, my soul, and my income(!). I am filled with gratefulness for both the vacation and the return.
As I’ve returned to daily walks through my neighborhood this past week, I’ve noticed how many plants are bearing fruit. While the temperatures still peak at over 100 degrees most days, local plants aren’t daunted. Instead, they are thriving. They are reaching a peak in their yearly routine, in the form of fruits and seeds which will nourish other beings and spread new generations of plants.
My work life is also thriving and spreading. I have a client who wants more of my time, a new publisher client, and potential new writing projects on the horizon. While at other times in my seven years as a contractor this might have felt daunting or overwhelming, I find myself instead in a space of gratefulness. I am, in a sense, harvesting the fruit of my seven years of freelance writing and editing. I am richly blessed.
In a spiritual guidance conversation this past week, I found myself recommending (through the wisdom of the Spirit, I believe) that someone take a sabbatical from an ongoing voluntary commitment about which they were having mixed feelings. Traditionally, sabbaticals take place every seven years (and have their origin in the concept of sabbath, in Hebrew tradition). I noticed that seven-year connection—I’ve been a freelance contractor for seven years—and I am pondering it. I’m not looking to quit anything, but I do wonder about ways in which I might need to pause and refocus or retool.
It’s somewhat countercultural to consider refocusing when things are going well. I’m not looking to make radical changes, but I am needing to investigate how to live sustainably through such an abundant harvest season. Sabbaticals are often about slowing down, trying something different, exploring new possibilities, and I intend to do some of each.
I also intend to bring my gratefulness to prayer. All this abundance is a gift from God. By giving thanks, getting still, and listening deeply, I trust that my sabbatical-of-the-spirit will result in another level of bountiful harvest.
Have you ever taken a sabbatical? What was its impact on your life?
Do you bring gratefulness to prayer? When was the last time you pondered God’s lavishness in your life?
Have just added a daily practice of listening to a podcast called “The Slow Down.” Although adding something may not feel like stepping back, this practice has added a Sabbath moment to my mornings. Suggested to me by a spiritual but not religious friend who finds his thin place in poetry.
Barbara, this is lovely. Yes, sometimes we are called to add, sometimes to subtract; the key is finding the right balance. I’m glad you have!
Peace,
Shirin
Right after I graduated from college in 1964, I was a research subject in a project studying the effects of LSD on normal people… it was still legal back then. As a result of the powerful connection, I had with Jesus during the experience, I changed from being an atheist and a year later I created a kind of sabbatical as a result. I dropped out of grad school in anthropology to go live quietly in Spain with my boyfriend of that era, who was writing. During that year in Europe, I read about religion, symbolism, and whatever else caught my eye, and it deepened my understandings. I’m finishing a memoir about how the LSD and the following years affected me throughout my life, but in a nutshell they brought a tremendous amount of joy into my life. And one of the results was gratitude permeating my prayers and everyday life.
What a powerful sabbatical story, Rozana! I’m so glad that you were blessed by that connection…that God used it in that way, and that you were free to strengthen the connection through your self-made sabbatical. Thank you for sharing!
Peace,
Shirin
I have never taken a sabbatical and am now thinking about your words associated with 7 years since my retirement (or close to it!). Maybe time to rethink how I spend my days. Everyday is marked with gratitude. There is certainly not the rush of ” getting out the door” but I do sometimes impose on myself some crazy weird schedules and “to do” lists. As always – thought provoking ideas drawn from your desert experiences.
Thank you, Joyce, for pointing out that we can always use a sabbatical, at any stage of life! My prayers are with you for your discernment. I’m glad my ideas are provoking thoughts, and it’s wonderful that you do spend your days in gratitude!
Peace,
Shirin