My sabbatical has been over for a week now and I keep saying I have one last post to do. The good thing about doing the last post after I’ve come back is that I get to see how my time off has affected my “normal” life. I think back to when I first started and how worried I was that I would do it wrong. I think in one conversation with my Mom I said I was worried “I wouldn’t relax right.” Which as a serious Type A (really is there another kind?) seemed not only possible, but probable.
Looking back now, I didn’t do everything I thought I would do and I did some things that certainly weren’t on my list. My kitchen cabinets weren’t touched once (I’m stripping and refinishing them (for 2 years now)), bathroom remodel not completed, and many more projects are still in various stages of completion. But I did read The Blessed Life, went to a bible study here in Lawn with my mom, helped Diane at the food pantry, and had an awesome Mother/Daughter weekend in San Antonio.
I think having so much free time on your hands shows you who you really are when left to your own devices. I still kept a schedule, although not packed and with room to flow as needed. Having OTWH scheduled every Tuesday and Thursday gave me something to look forward to and still have nap time between the Tuesday shift. I still forgot to do my bible study homework a few times and might have been late a time or two to the pantry but I never got wound up or forget to be grateful.
I think that’s what has carried over into my normal life this week. How grateful I am to be able to do, work, play, spend, and give as I do. This Thursday I kept a promise I had made and stopped by Market Street on my way home to pick up this weeks donated items. I like the idea of staying in touch with my community this way. I had been praying that I would find some ministry that would need help this April and that I could continue to help them as I could through the rest of the year.
God calls us to be givers. “God loves a cheerful giver.” 2 Corinthians 9:7. The word cheerful actually comes from the Greek word ‘hilaros’. It’s where we get the word hilarious from. I like thinking about being hilarious in my giving. Cheerful implies I smiled as a I gave, hilarious says I was laughing as I did so. Thinking back through the month spent with other volunteers, family, and friends I can definitely say that I laughed as I gave my time back to God.
I know a lot of ya’ll still have your sabbatical on the horizon. A word of advice? Don’t worry about what you will do, if it will be good enough, or if you will get it all done. Just sit back and laugh at what God is going to bring to you and what you will do for him.
