Our adventure has finally begun! We said goodbye to our Williams Bay home yesterday on an incredibly beautiful February day. With a cool breeze off the melting lake, migrating birds loudly moving north, and strong sunshine, only budding greenery was missing to signal the fast approach of spring. We had an incredibly smooth trip north to Eagle River, WI, where we will be spending a few days with Nic’s parents before leaving the state.

The last few days have been anything but restful. We have been running full throttle to pack our home into storage, get rid of stuff, spend time with people we love, make our RV habitable, etc. Every day feels like two with how many different tasks we’ve been accomplishing. Due to delays in getting our RV back from a little stay at the RV shop, Nic even had to pull an all-nighter during our last night at the house. And the final morning in our home was a marathon of trips to storage units, reorganizing said storage units to make it all fit, packing, loading, last-minute laundry, more packing, more loading, one last trip to storage…you get the picture. We are tired.

I have never been great at resting, and I can’t think of many in our culture who rest well. Nic rests a little better than I do. He plays guitar, watches movies, and researches and executes all sorts of projects. I can’t even watch a movie without working on something, and I find the most rest that I can think of when I am…running? In planning our long trip, we have talked many times of the wonderful break that it will be from life. With my restless tendencies, I’ve been all talk when it comes to that topic. I can’t honestly picture what six months of rest looks like, how it will feel. The trips I’ve planned for us in the past are full of long days doing everything we can to take full advantage of our vacation time. Nic makes fun of me for the itineraries I dream up, and we always come home from vacation so tired because of all the fun I’ve put us through. So when we talk about this long, restful trip, I don’t get it yet.

My Bible plan brought me to Leviticus 25 today. I usually read Leviticus expecting little more than rules and weird instructions on animal sacrifice. Instead, I found some instructions on rest, which felt so appropriate on this first full day of our adventure.

God spoke to Moses at Mount Sinai: “Speak to the People of Israel. Tell them, When you enter the land which I am going to give you, the land will observe a Sabbath to God. Sow your fields, prune your vineyards, and take your harvests for six years. But the seventh year the land will take a Sabbath of complete and total rest, a Sabbath to God; you will not sow your fields or prune your vineyards. Don’t reap what grows of itself; don’t harvest the grapes of your untended vines. The land gets a year of complete and total rest. But you can eat from what the land volunteers during the Sabbath year…Keep my decrees and observe my laws and you will live secure in the land. The land will yield its fruit; you will have all you can eat and will live safe and secure. Do I hear you ask, ‘What are we going to eat in the seventh year if we don’t plant or harvest?’ I assure you, I will send such a blessing in the sixth year that the land will yield enough for three years” (Leviticus 25:1-7;18-21 MSG).

I don’t know what the people were supposed to do during that seventh year when they weren’t planting and harvesting, but I’m guessing they rested. I bet they spent some time working on relationships. I bet the extra measure of time allowed for more thinking and praying and listening. And when they were concerned about providing for themselves during the sabbatical year, God promised three years of provision from the land. Three years! I’d take three years of provision for every six I work. Can you picture if that was just a regular thing to only work six out of seven years? I have never been one to take a break and observe the Sabbath, and I can’t think of anyone else I’ve known who practices this regularly. So I’m thankful for the forced pause from the rat race, the chance to learn how to better rest, the chance to explore the Sabbath year (or six months).

Stay tuned for an intro and some photos of our lovely RV. She’s a charmer, and Nic is working hard to make her into a home.