When we decided to embark on this journey of taking 9.5 months leave from work to travel and experience the world, we didn’t always have a chance to fully explain what inspired us.  I’ve been meaning to blog this but it has been hard to capture it concisely and so here is my best effort.

For many people in the Christian faith, the Sabbath is known as the day of rest.  We are all called to work and participate in creation, and are to observe 1 day of rest a week.  This is to recognize that the world continues to turn even when we cease to be “productive”.   There is something higher, which provides for us, and that we are definitely not the be all and end all.  And this actually helps us to recharge for the next week (who knew?).

In the Old Testament of the Bible, God commanded his people to observe the Sabbath on every 7^th day.  In addition, he commanded them to observe a Sabbath year every 7^th year.  Every 6 years, the people were given the land to work and reap whatever it grew.  On the 7^th year, they were not to sow from it or prune it, thereby, giving the land rest.  Whatever they collected from the land, they were to eat, share with their workers and neighbours and enjoy.   There were other commands, like forgiveness of debts and the year of Jubilee, which I won’t get into here.  But imagine how different our world would be if these commands were actually followed?

Jonathan and I were fascinated with what we were learning about Sabbath and its implications.  We thought, how cool would it be to have our own Sabbath year, taking a break from our work and careers to learn and see what’s going on in the world around us?  We received many blessings through encouragement and also open doors from friends all over the world willing to house us throughout our journey.   Our journey, so far, has been greater than we had imagined.

And yes, we’re currently working in Chile but with a very different outlook and approach to our work.   Interesting enough, since our time away, our understanding of work has been changing, shaped by our understanding of rest.  Learning to believe that we are not defined by what we do and that our identity is tied to something much more lasting.

Now, on the other spectrum of Sabbath, I’m attaching a talk on “WORK” which has added immense depth and insight for me on this subject.   Listen below!

- joyce