From June to the end of August, I've had the immense gift of "sabbatical time" - a whole three months of space, away from my usual pattern of working life as vicar in Hodge Hill, to rest, reflect, recharge the batteries and, in temporarily "disconnecting" from some aspects of life, to "reconnect" with some other vital, but perhaps neglected, dimensions of what it means to "live fully". I jotted down some of my hopes for this time, towards the end of May, in a blog post here.
The last few weeks of sabbatical time were spent with my lovely family, on various holiday adventures together. So it's only now, "re-entering" working life in September, that I'm beginning to reflect in a more focused way on what gifts "sabbatical time" has given me. As I've said to one or two people already, the sabbatical felt like it was a time in which many seeds were planted, deep down in the ground, and so far they have barely begun to poke their shoots above the surface. But in the coming weeks I want both to look back on what some of those seeds looked like, and begin to discern what new growth might be emerging.
As with most of my blog posts, I'm writing this mostly for myself. But if, by chance or the mysterious workings of the Spirit, there might turn out to be resonances for anyone else who happens to read this, gifts that somehow spread and multiply (a bit like the more beautiful of weeds!) - then I'll be doubly thankful.
(I'll try and remember to label sabbatical reflections with the "sabbatical" tag, as there may well be other posts that end up here in the coming weeks!)
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