2012--My Year of Jubilee

This is going to be a really great year.  I can just feel it. 

It's my year of Sabbath--my sabbatical.  It's my Year of Jubilee.

A few weeks ago I was talking to a friend about a coincidence.  I have an extremely light workload/school load this year due to switching to the three-year MSW plan.  There was also an error made by my advisor that made the workload even lighter. 

This term I only have one class.  One!  And next term only two.  No internship.  No outside work.  No homeschooling.

And did I mention I have the whole summer off???

The funny thing is, when all this all came down, I didn't know we would be adopting AGAIN this year.   What perfect timing!

I laughed about the coincidence, but then my friend tilted her head, gave me a grin, winked, and said, "Are you sure it was just a coincidence?  Sounds like a God-thing to me!"

I smiled, paused, and then declared her correct!  Just to be a little bit of a tease I hollered out, "This must be my Year of Jubilee!" 

I really didn't know much about the year of jubilee.  But the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to learn.

In Leviticus 25 there is an explanation of the sabbath year and the year of jubilee.

Interestingly enough, I realized this is my seventh year of college.  I started back full-time after watching the inspirational movie The Pursuit of Happyness; first finishing my bachelors, then going right into my MSW. Most of that time I was either doing daycare or working, so it's been busy.  Having this quiet year is truly a sabbath.

Even more interesting, I discovered the Year of Jubilee occurs during the 49th/50th year (depending on how it's translated).

I just turned 49--so this is my 50th year of life.
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This really is my Year of Jubilee.

I don't understand all that is written in the bible about the year of jubilee.  There is a great deal of instruction about land ownings, loans, and the buying and selling of property.  But there is also instruction on freeing slaves, returning to family, and taking a year off to regenerate and celebrate--I understand that part well! 

After reading Leviticus 25, I am left with the knowledge that the year of jubilee was filled with hope, freedom, liberation, redemption, forgiveness, and LOVE.  It was a year of resting.  It was a year of using only what was needed and supplied, and sharing/giving back to the poor.  It was a year of returning to family, having children come home, and rejoicing in relationships.

There is a nice explanation of jubilee here  and I really enjoyed Joel Osteen's sermon on jubilee.  I especially love how he ties in adopting a child in the year of jubilee.

I think of the words of Twila Paris singing Days of Elijah:

Behold He comes riding on the clouds,
Shining like the sun at the trumpet call,
Lift your voice it’s the year of jubilee,
And out of Zion’s hill salvation comes.


I lift my own voice.  I sound the call.  This is my Year of Jubilee. 

"Consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you; each one of you is to return to his family property and each to his own clan. The fiftieth year shall be a jubilee for you; do not sow and do not reap what grows itself or harvest the untended vines. For it is a jubilee and is to be holy for you; eat only what is taken directly from the fields."

                                                 ~Leviticus 25:10-12