It was a typical Apples of Gold morning – I was getting dressed while listening to my Bible app on my phone. I was also receiving texts from friends who were praying for our upcoming mentoring class that would happen in a couple of hours. Just as I was sending a message my phone STOPPED in mid-sentence. It wouldn’t type or go back to the home screen. Then it went black. The sickening feeling in my heart lived out to be true – my phone (less than a year old) died.
The kind Verizon rep at the store told me later that afternoon that there was some glitch in the phone and they would replace it, but my replacement wouldn’t be here until at least two or three days from now. I became UNPLUGGED.
It’s ironic that it happened when it did, because in another area of my life, as of today, I’m becoming “unplugged.” It’s ministry. You see, my husband and I have been given an extraordinary gift from our church – a 31-day sabbatical!
Sabbatical is just a period of absence. The goal for ours is to rest, refocus and reload – those are my terms. This is what I’m praying these 31 days will accomplish in my life:
- Rest – This is pretty obvious. We have had an exteremely busy spring and summer. Our minds and bodies are tired. We need to shut down and rest. Sleep, leisure and a slower pace is our goal.
- Refocus – It’s easy to be so busy doing that you lose the sight of where you’re headed – of what you really want to accomplish and why. I long to take a step back and consider the days ahead carefully and then make plans that support those choices.
- Reload – I need some time to fill up. Time to pray, study and be alone with the Lord. More than anything I’m praying this will be a spiritual retreat for us both.
That being said, I’m not really sure what my blog will look like in these 31 days. I’m not planning on abandoning it, but maybe to just cool it a bit. I might just write to give you a look into our sabbatical. It might just be a picture or a quote – I’ll let the Lord dictate the content, as I do every day.
So, here we go – 31 days of being UNPLUGGED.
With love,
Years ago, a young mother was making her way across the hills of South Wales, carrying her tiny baby in her arms, when she was overtaken by a blinding blizzard. She never reached her destination and when the blizzard had subsided her body was found by searchers beneath a mound of snow. But they discovered that before her death, she had taken off all her outer clothing and wrapped it about her baby. When they unwrapped the child, to their great surprise and joy, they found he was alive and well. She had mounded her body over his and given her life for her child, proving the depths of her mother love. Years later that child, David Lloyd George, grown to manhood, became prime minister of Great Britain, and, without doubt, one of England’s greatest statesman.
