Sabbatical Series: Take a Sabbatical with 4 Easy Steps

The last few weeks have been all about sabbaticals – what are they, who can take one, and what my personal sabbatical was like.

Now it’s your turn!

I’m going to help walk you through what this can look like for you using the definition of a sabbatical that I shared a couple weeks ago.

A sabbatical is a season* of rest where you:

1. Remove all the unnecessary things from your schedule
2. Remember who God is
3. Reflect on your purpose and calling
4. Refine your priorities moving forward

*Your sabbatical can be any length of time you want it to be – but for the sake of this article, I’m going to assume it’s going to last you about a month.

Remove

The first step is to remove everything you can from your plate.

Make a list of all your commitments for the next month. Use your calendar to help you.

• Appointments
• Job hours
• Committees
• Meetings
• Fundraisers
• Kids’ extracurricular activities
• Church commitments
• Etc…

Now what is necessary? Be harsh here. What is truly necessary for the next month?

Don’t quit your job or walk out on your family. But can you find someone else to help carpool your kids? Can you step away from a committee, club, or organization for a few weeks? Can someone else host the event? Can you miss that meeting?

Once you remove things from your plate – you have to choose to guard your new found time. I like to think of it as adding gospel pillows to the sofa. Our flesh will choose to fill the space with all sorts of things – but if we intentionally buffer the time with a specific gospel centered focus – then the space we made will become truly restful.

Remember

The “pillows” have two components: Remembering who God is; and Reflecting on who you are.

To remember who God is, we must be in the Scriptures.

The Bible is the Word of God. It’s his love letter to us. It tells us all we need to understand him, to understand salvation, and to walk in a manner that reflects our identity as children of God¹.

I mentioned last week that I worked through 4 key words (you could focus on 1 word a week) – and a couple of key Bible passages that speak to each of those words.

You could do something similar. Or you could choose a book of the Bible to read through (I recommend the gospel of John or Ephesians). Or you could do an approachable Bible study curriculum (like the At His Feet Studies).

The point is to intentionally fill your new found time with extra time in God’s word. (This is beyond a normal “quiet time”² that you might have.)

And as you read through the Scripture passages – write* down all the things you learn about God’s character. Literally make yourself lists of his attributes! I promise your heart will be encouraged as you record all the things God has told you about himself through his word.

*Since I know that journaling can be a hard practice for a lot of people – I want to help you with this step! If you are one of my subscribers – you will receive (in my July newsletter) a free Sabbatical Journal Worksheet that you can print and use to walk you through the journaling process.

Reflect

The second part of the “pillows” is to reflect on who you are.

God’s word will tell you a lot about yourself as well. But it may be a little less direct.

The more we learn about God’s character, the more we start to see ourselves in a different light. We see both how we are made in God’s image, and how we cannot possibly live up to his holiness.

As you reflect on who you are – you will probably be driven to times of confession. These are so good! Don’t run away from this. Confessing sin and admitting our weaknesses are crucial parts to receiving the grace and forgiveness given to us by God through his Son Jesus Christ.

There is a misconception in a lot of Christian circles that we only have to confess our sin one time (when we first put our trust in Jesus) and then we don’t have to worry about our sin again. But the discipline of confessing is like immersing ourselves ever deeper in the grace and love of Jesus.

As you confess, God will remove the guilt of sin and he will show you how he sees you. When we have accepted the grace and forgiveness of Jesus – we are clothed in his righteousness (Isaiah 61:10, 1 Corinthians 1:29-31) and given the Holy Spirit as a sign and seal of our adoption and salvation (Romans 8:15, 2 Corinthians 1:22).

The Holy Spirit brings with him gifts (1 Corinthians 12) that are given to all believers to support and encourage the church (the body of Christ).

As you work through the Bible passages you chose – you will begin to reflect on the gifts you’ve been given: both the practical gifts (things you are naturally good at), and the passion gifts (things you care deeply about).

Again – the act of journaling through these things will help you recognize them in yourself and will help you flesh out how God may be leading you to work out these gifts moving forward.

Refine

The last step is to refine your schedule moving forward.

As you come to the end of your sabbatical season you will want to go back to that list of commitments you had written down at the beginning.

One by one, look at those commitments through the lens of the gifts you’ve been given.

Do you want to pick that thing back up?

Do you have to pick that thing back up?

You will probably find that some of the things on the list – you don’t really miss. That’s ok! It’s ok for you to change, and for seasons of life to change and for you to choose to go down different paths.

You might find that some of the things you are really excited to return to – and now you’ll be returning with more passion and vision than before. Since you’ve had time to reflect on the gifts God has given you – you’re more ready to dive in to the things that you care most about!

You also might find that there are things on your list that you don’t want to go back to – but you have to. That’s ok too. Sometimes God wants to use hard things to remind us that our hope is in him alone.

However you feel about your commitment list – take those feelings to the Lord. Tell him all about it. He is faithful and he will meet you where you are.

Conclusion:

A couple of last thoughts – I would highly encourage you to find a buddy to work through your sabbatical with you. They don’t necessarily have to be taking a sabbatical themselves – but they need to be willing to read the same Bible passages you are and spend time remembering and reflecting with you.

It will be helpful to both of you to process these things together and encourage each other moving forward.

If this feels like something you want to do – but you still have questions – please reach out to me. You can send me an email at marissa@marissabondurant.com or send me a message through IG or FB.

Whether now is the right time for you to take a formal sabbatical or not – may you find your rest in Jesus every day!

©Marissa Bondurant, 2021

¹(Article on the sufficiency of Scripture – with many Scripture references and explanations) https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/stewart_don/faq/bible-special/question25-what-is-the-sufficiency-of-scripture.cfm

²A “quiet time” is a Christian culture phrase that refers to the daily discipline of spending time reading the Bible and praying.