Welcome to my blog!

The name comes from the Old English word (sabat), which comes to us through Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. It's origin is "to rest", and is etymologically connected to Sabbath and Sabbatical. It seemed appropriate... given my current time of transition. This blog allows a place for personal reflection, shares my whereabouts and happenings, but most importantly - it is a vehicle for your reactions to my submissions. My hope is that, as a group, we have a running dialog pertaining to those things that really matter.

I promise to read each post, but please know that replies may be sporadic and/or delayed. For my plans in the near-future will frequently have me "out of pocket", or I may just need to escape the day-to-day deluge of electronic ping pong . But feel free to submit a post. We are all traveling together on this journey to understand, called life; and each perspective is important.

Let's keep in touch as we share the journey!

Be well,

Sam

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Personal Sabbath

Greetings All -

Well, this whole sabbatical thing seems to be harder than I expected.  You've heard of Parkinson's Law, right??? (Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.)  Well, I can attest to the veracity of this adage.  But my primary problem is that I must overcome the constant need to be "doing".  Instead... I must work on "being".  For a lifelong workaholic, this is much easier said than done.  One step in that direction is to establish a personal sabbath within each week. With Resa's work schedule, I am considering making it a weekday. No work... no projects... no shopping... no commitments - just think... just contemplate... just read and write...just be! I'm afraid that if I don't establish a regular routine (for example - every Monday will be my personal sabbath), then - knowing my nature - I will put it off until the week has passed me by. And for me, there does seem to be something significant to the whole Biblical seven-to-one ratio.

"And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made" (Gen. 2:3). The same idea is also stated elsewhere, as here: "But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work" (Deut. 5:14).

My first foray into a personal sabbath will be tomorrow.  After staying overnight tonight with Family Promise (a nonprofit organization about which I feel very strongly), I plan to go solo canoe-camping on Friday.  I will have one short reading to contemplate per "sabbath day".  My first, for Friday, is The Journey - by Mary Oliver. (I will submit it as a separate post entry.)

Feel free to respond.  In the meantime - be well, and enjoy the weekend.

S
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