But in the seventh year the land is to have a year of sabbath rest, a sabbath to the Lord. Do not sow your fields or prune your vineyards. 5 Do not reap what grows of itself or harvest the grapes of your untended vines. The land is to have a year of rest. 6 Whatever the land yields during the sabbath year will be food for you,” Leviticus 25:4-6
This past week I had the blessing of spending a week with my family, and both sets of parents in the “Happiest Place on Earth,” Walt Disney World in Orlando Florida. These were the first days of sabbatical, of changing my pace and rhythm, and being open to God’s leading in this unique season. For that I found myself in a busy, bustling place, filled with many who are on the trip of a lifetime. Many there were trying to squeeze every last drop out of it. I saw parents grinding out Disney trips as they yelled at their children and one another, rushed to get to every ride, ran side to side in the park, pushed in line, and more. And it would have been easy to get caught up in it too, and I would have missed it. Our trip had a very different rhythm with two small children who could not handle long days at the parks, followed by more long nights. And yet, it was the trip of a lifetime. The pure joy on Will and Addie’s face as they met characters, at the meals, at the hotel pool; all faces of pure joy, not because of the magic of Disney, but because of the family they shared it all with. The time with my family, to share, to laugh, to just enjoy whatever weather or opportunities awaited us each day. Multiple times during our trip Will stopped and said, “Thank you Mom and Dad for bringing me to Disney World.”
In the wise words of Ferris Bueller: “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”
This summer I am living into Leviticus 25 call to slow down, to change the pace of life, to trust God in all of this, and to find myself uncomfortably comfortable. To move not at the efficient, task-drive pace that I usually move at, but instead to allow each day to be different. To set aside time for reflection, for rest, for discernment. To take a chance to summer to slow the pace, and in the words of Ferris Bueller, to slow down, to look around, to see what God sets before me each day, and what God stirs inside me each day. So may my next number of weeks by guided by Ferris Bueller’s words of wisdom, and I pray that God opens my eyes to all that He is doing in and around me, that perhaps I would have missed otherwise.