Leviticus 25 - Jubilee

God had this amazing plan for the Jews that they never implemented. He wanted them to live and work normally for six years and take the seventh year off - completely - give the land a rest, so to speak. Imagine a whole year of vacation. God promised that they would reap enough in the six years to cover the seventh free year. On top of this, they were to celebrate a Jubilee year every 50 years. It was a way to reset everything. Again, no work, just trust God. This Jubilee would occur after a seventh year, so at this time they would get 2 years off. Imagine!

But they never did it.

Why not? I think it was because they didn't trust God to provide for them. After all why take a year off when you could keep working and building your storehouse? And since for so many of us, work is our identity, I'm sure they feared losing a part of themselves if they just relaxed. So after 490 years of no time off, God forced the time. They were exiled for 70 years. The exact number they had refused to take off. God proclaimed the land WILL rest! One way or another. You WILL stop working for yourself, but now you are going to have to work for someone else.

I, too, get caught up in the productivity mentality so prevalent in America.

Being a full-time mom means always wondering if you are accomplishing anything. I truly believe raising kids is the most important job in the world, but sometimes it can seem so... daily.

So much of my "work" involves just maintaining mine and my family's existance. I mean if we weren't here, none of it would need to get done. It starts so feel meaningless. Everyday, I wash dishes, do laundry, vacuum (constantly shedding dog), check emails/blogs, run errands, etc... Since my "job" is so cyclical, it feels like nothing is actually getting accomplished. It reminds me of when I use to work in retail. I would spend about an hour each night at closing folding sweaters. The next day the customers would come and pull them down from the wall, unfold them and leave them in a pile. Sometimes they would actually buy one, but you know what? It didn't matter. They could rip them all down in a huge mess and buy them all, but the company would send us MORE! So it didn't matter to me if they sold or not, either way, I was going to spend an hour folding sweaters.

However, while I can feel unproductive when I am doing, doing, doing, I also feel unproductive when I am relaxing. This summer has been one of my most relaxing ever and I feel guilty at times (for example, here I am at 10:32 still in my robe, bed unmade, shower untaken...).

Yet God's plan was to work and be rewarded with relaxation. I think He knew most of our work would involve maintaining our existance. But He doesn't want our lives to only be about existing, He wants us to enjoy time off, while we rest in Him.

In America, it may be close to impossible to balance the work/relaxation idea. And as a full-time mom in this "go, go, go - do, do, do" country I may never feel like I am going and doing as I should be. But this is the life He has blessed me with and I must trust Him with it. I try to remember that His goal for me in this life is make me more like Christ, not see what I can accomplish... Besides as we raise our children to love Him, I honestly, really, truly believe that we are "building treasure in heaven."