Sabbath Year

I started to refer to 2009 as my "Jubilee Year," but after re-checking Leviticus, I realized that it was really my "Sabbath Year." You see, the ancient Jews would sow their fields for six years, but in the seventh let it rest. After seven cycles of seven years -- in the 50th year, the Jews would celebrate the Jubilee. Well, I'm not quite to the Jubilee yet, but the idea of re-energizing the earth at the end of every six years by letting it fallow for a year is a remarkably interesting principle to apply to one's own life cycle.

It felt at times, particulary as I approached the end of the year, that I had sowed as much of myself as I could working on Sudan/Darfur over the last six years, and that the time had come to let the land fallow. The beauty of my current assignment on Capitol Hill is that it permits me to do just that -- to explore new policy areas and achieve a much more rational work-life balance. This new balance has allowed me the opportunity to go the gym more often (with a goal to condition for playing hockey), finish projects up around the house, and plan for an aggressive lawn and garden strategy for the Spring/Summer.

I must be inspired by the book I finished this week (see next entry under) and Ravi Zacharias' book, which I'm now well into. Well, that's about as philosophical as I'm prepared to get tonight. Thanks for reading.