Enjoying the Gift of Sabbatical

Reflections from Renovare’s Founder/Cellist Rebecca Shasberger.

“The real task of life then is to recognize this, to recognize that everything is a gift and that we need to keep saying thanks over and over again for all the things in life that we so much take for granted… As well, our gratitude is meant to carry something else: enjoyment of the gift that is given to us. The highest compliment we can give a gift giver is to enjoy the gift thoroughly. We owe it to our Creator to appreciate things, to be as happy as we can be. Life is meant to be more than a test, and so we might add to this our daily prayer: give us today our daily bread, and help us to enjoy it without guilt.”

- From Ronald Rolheiser’s Sacred Fire, pg. 249 

Hiking with dear friends in the Grand Tetons.

“How was your sabbatical?!” is (understandably) what I’ve been asked the most since I returned to work in late September. At moments when time was limited, I responded simply that sabbatical was a gift, and that I’m grateful for the opportunity. Those sentiments are true, and in the spirit of Rolheiser’s wisdom quoted above, I’ll linger on them here for a bit. (Sacred Fire is one of the books I read while on sabbatical).

First off, I’m deeply grateful for the people around me who encouraged and enabled me to step away from work for a season: Renovare’s Board of Directors, my sabbatical planning team, and my colleagues who ably carried on the mission in my absence. Their love, support, wisdom, prayers, and willingness to take on additional responsibilities made sabbatical possible for me.

Experiencing some mixed emotions in Massachusetts before eating what I think was my first lobster.

I am also deeply grateful for the opportunity that sabbatical afforded me to travel and do things I enjoy with dear friends. Hiking mile after mile through the breathtakingly beautiful Grand Tetons while talking for hours upon hours with friends was a gift. Lindy hopping, eating my first lobster and sightseeing with a friend in New England was a gift. My 1,700+ mile solo road trip to rural Southwest Missouri, where I lived in a shed on a farm for a week was a gift - and perhaps one that requires some explanation. I found myself rising with the sun, doing manual labor in hot and humid conditions, and constantly checking for ticks. Where is the gift in that? The gift was in slow time with the dear friends who own the farm, in shared meals and Orthodox liturgy, in reflecting with them about the early days of Renovare alongside a chorus of cicadas, in cello lessons and sacred music-making. It was a great gift to be with deep, creative people, surrounded by nature and not technology, even if farming isn’t usually my cup of tea! 

A view on the farm in Southwest Missouri.

Most of my sabbatical time was spent at home in Cleveland, a city that I love. It was a gift to have time to take public transportation, to linger at local points of interest, to go to Guardians games. It was a gift to have slow days at home, with unhurried time for reading, praying, going on walks, practicing new music on my cello, and organizing my home library. I am grateful for the guidance of a spiritual director and the opportunity to take my first three day silent retreat. Perhaps it was the time to nourish and strengthen my roots here in Cleveland that was the greatest gift of all.

Sabbatical was a rich, restorative time, full of good gifts which I enjoyed thoroughly and for which I am profoundly grateful. Pray with me that the grace of gratitude and unfettered enjoyment of God’s good gifts will continue to saturate my doing and being as I return to the joys and challenges of leading Renovare in the years ahead.

Taking a lesson with Steuart Pincombe at Farmata in rural Missouri.

Performing a choreographed group routine at a Lindy hop dance camp in New Hampshire.