Finding Your Sabbatical

I've been spending time lately pondering the idea of "Sabbatical." Sabbaticals are increasingly common these days in both the Christian and the secular professional world. The original idea, though, has its roots in early Hebrew tradition.

Sabbatical, in a nutshell, relates to the early command that God gave to Moses to pass on to the Jewish people. The story is found in Leviticus 25, which recounts God instructing the Jews to sow their fields for six years, and then let the fields rest in the seventh year, or the Sabbath (Sabbatical) year.

Sabbaticals in the secular market are typically associated with institutions of higher learning: professors are often granted a term of "sabbatical" from their teaching posts. These are not necessarily granted automatically, but are based on a professor's longevity, job performance, level of education, and more often than not, what he or she plans to do with his/her time of sabbatical. Usually university instructors embark on a sabbatical to conduct research or study which directly relates to his/her particular niche.

Universities are not the only work places to grant sabbaticals anymore though. The idea is catching on with other workplaces, including some of today's churches and even denominations as a whole.

Perhaps in an ideal world we could all take a sabbatical year. Imagine a year off to pursue rest, renewal and spiritual growth. I could certainly use some of that! However, this is just not the reality for most of us in the real world.

And yet the concept is so appealing, I've been pondering just how to work some sabbatical into my own life, without actually having to quit my work (I am my own boss, and the boss says her kids need to eat this year.) I've managed to come across some creative ideas, and one or more of them may work for you:

1) Re-focus your Sabbath: Christians are already warm to the idea of taking a Sabbath day each week as a day of rest. Many times though we don't do this. Put some sabbatical into your week by revisioning your Sabbath day, whatever day that happens to be. For some it can't be Sunday, because in our seven-days-a-week world Sunday is a workday. If that's the case, take whatever day you do happen to have off, and actually use it to pursue your sabbatical goals.

2) Give up an activity or obligation for a period of time: For many (like me) there just aren't any hours left in the day to pursue new goals. I've decided that I'm taking my own six month sabbatical from one of my current activities, and will instead use the time I would normally devote to that activity to pursuing my Sabbatical interests. (Just don't give up walking the dog or taking out the garbage.... those are the kinds of activities you'll really regret ignoring eventually.)

3) Choose a small, daily sabbatical: If you can't part with any of your activities or responsibilities over a longer period of time, set aside twenty or thirty minutes (or more) a day as your sabbatical. This might mean sending the kids to bed a little bit earlier (they might fight it now, but they'll thank you later when you're calm, serene and easier to live with,) cutting corners on housework (nobody inspects under your beds... let the dust bunnies accumulate for awhile,) cooking simpler meals (you can make almost any meal from a box or bag in under twenty minutes,)or getting your head shaved so you don't have to do your hair anymore (I dare you to try that one.) Again, you don't have to carry this on for the duration of your life. Pick a period of time, say three to six months, to carry out this particular goal. Afterwards, call in the professional duct cleaners with their industrial-strength vacuum cleaners to tackle those killer dust bunnies.

There's no rule about what to do with your sabbatical, though the ultimate goal should be to grow closer to God. For my sabbatical, I plan to take more nature walks and have coffee at least once per week with someone from church. (Remember, coffee is my new ministry!) I look forward to what God is going to do in my life in the next six months.