Sabbatical: An Invitation to Come Away

In January, our ministry board of directors determined that we'd set aside a 90-day-period expressly for a Sabbatical.

That began this week.

It crept up on me, and though I knew it to be around the corner and on the calendar, I wasn't prepared.

Because of my lack of intentionality, I've found myself somewhat frustrated.

What I think of a Sabbatical, and the reality of it, are currently at war within me.

What I want is to see nothing on the calendar.

What I want is no to-do-list.

Actually, I think what I want is to disappear for 90-days.

Obviously, this is unrealistic.

I totally comprehend the purpose of Sabbatical.

It's meant to be a stringing together of several days of Sabbath-rest...

The goal: to restore the soul...

...to bring life-giving refreshment that fills and renews.

...to climb out of the daily sameness, and busyness, that have put us in deep-rutted-routine, and step into DIVINE-DIRECTED-DIFFERENT.

Like a Sabbath, Sabbaticals are NOT vacations. 

I simply can't disappear, and eliminate things that have to be done.

That's a vacation, and a vacation will never gift me what a Sabbatical will.

A while back, I read the following, and had to look it up to re-reflect:

"We're busy people. The main experience of men and women (and even children) in North America is busyness, having far more to do any day, every day, all day, than we can possibly get done. We simultaneously scurry and slog through breathless, breakneck schedules. We flounder in a welter of meetings and errands, demands and delays, expectations and obligations. It's joyless. It's endless. Our leisure itself has become an anxious, rushed, fitful business. Our rest is restless. 

Maybe we implicitly acknowledged this reality when we stopped calling our time away from work a holiday and started calling it a vacation. What was once time set apart for God-ward and God-filled refreshment, a holy day, became merely an evacuation, a vacating, a vacancy, a vacuity. It's an interval to flee, escape, avoid real life for a while...

But, will a vacation help? Mere vacations are just that, an emptying that often leaves us empty, a reprieve that brings short-term relief but no lasting refreshment... 

(Mark Buchanan. Your God is Too Safe)"

Nope.

A vacation is not what I'm looking for (though, there's nothing wrong with including one in Sabbath-rest)...

What do I really want? I want the God-ward and God-filled refreshment.

I desire the holy season that's set apart for the Lord to re-fuel me.

So, while still tackling those to-do's, I'm purposely looking to step out of some of my daily sameness...to seek some different God-directed-paths (and get out of the ruts of automatic living) that will lead to new spiritual insights and heart-adjustments, better emotional and physical health, along with occupational and relational growth. 

So, why am I taking the time to discuss this in a weekly blog?

Maybe, just maybe, if I took more time for daily pauses (Selah-moments), weekly Sabbaths, and a few extended Sabbaticals now and then, the idea of disappearing would not seem so desirable.

And, I figure that notion isn't exclusive to me. 

I'm pretty certain we all feel the same from time to time.

The answer for us all: 

The spiritual discipline of slowing down. 

The spiritual discipline of "sabbatical."

(1/2 day, whole day, week, month, more...)

Let's look at Jesus...

In three-years, He established His ministry, trained disciples, healed the sick, carried out the will of His Father, debated and shed light on the failings of religious leaders, taught the masses the meaning of the coming Kingdom and did it all with an attitude of peace-filled-calm.

He was never anxious, remained unbothered by interruption, sauntered from place-to-place and always looked out for other's interests, even with His eyes ever fixed on Jerusalem and the coming cross.

He didn't pay attention to sun dials or schedules.

But..."as was His habit," He withdrew to quiet places to be renewed and refreshed. 

How much more do we need these seasons?

All of us do!

And, they shouldn't have to be "others-mandated," but regular rhythms of holy habits.

I'll be working on my own...and, I have a feeling they will show me what is truly in my heart.

The Lord is calling us all, "Come away my beloved... Find rest for your soul in God alone."