March 14

The Year of Jubilee

First I have to make a confession. I have fallen behind in my devotional time with the Lord and reading the Bible. I have no one or nothing to blame but myself. So I am saying I am sorry that I have not written in a while. But I have been thinking about my next entry the entire time I was away so hopefully it will be worth the wait.

Ok here goes....

I was reading in Leviticus 25 about the Year of Jubilee. The Year of Jubilee is a type of Sabbath year that takes place every 50 years and no one is allowed to plant or harvest during that year. Now God obviously provided for them in the years leading up to Jubilee and even after until the following crop was harvested.(Lev. 25:21-22)

Also if you sold land the price was based on the number of years til the next Jubilee.(Lev 25:14-17) So basically the price was higher in years 1-25 than 26-49. Because you were basing it on the number of harvests you would be getting out of the land.

Another interesting aspect of the Jubilean year is that everyone was to return to their ancestral homeland. Which to me would be kind of confusing. I mean how far back do you go back to your ancestors cause they moved around a lot. If I was to use it in the current days time since I am considered part of my husband's family. They would all return to Colorado since that is where they remember but do they go back farther than that to either when the family first moved to America from Europe or do we all pack up and take a trip over seas. Of course back in the days of Moses they didn't move around as much as we do now so they obviously already knew where they were going.

But another reason the Year of Jubilee is so fascinating to me at this moment is because in my family we just celebrated a 50th birthday. My mother-in-law just turned 50 this past Monday, but there was no Jubilee in her celebrating. Actually she didn't really want to celebrate it at all. Which is odd to me because I have never been one to really care about my age, shoot sometimes I forget that I am not 21 any more and am about to turn 30 in a little over a year and I really could careless. As a matter of fact when my mother turned 50 several years back she was rather excited about it because she gained lots of perks that she wasn't able to get before, like discounts and special shopping days at stores. Oh and my favorite a good excuse to forget things, hahahaha

I find it amazing how two women can see the same thing from different views like they do. But obviously it was probably how they were raised, I guess. Or even how they saw life in general. Both women viewed raising children as a blessing and loved and still love every minute of it. But my mother went out and worked for a living and taught my brother and I to be independent and you have to work for things you want, but know that God and church always comes first and family will be there if you need a hand. Now my mother-in-law did not work the moment that she was pregnant with my husband (he's the oldest), obviously there is nothing wrong with that but unfortunately my husband and his 2 siblings grew up with the knowledge that they could depend on mom first and not really have to be independent to a point. Now I am not saying she babied them but if I forgot something at home then I just had to deal with it when I was at school but if they forgot something they only needed to place a call to mom or in some weird cases she would show-up at school before they even knew. (I swear sometimes she is psychic but that is another story)

I could on and on about their difference I love them both and I know they did the best they could but what I am trying to say is that once all of their children grew up and moved out they began to view life differently. My mom saw more freedom, where as I believe my mother-in-law feels that she is not needed any more. And also I think because both ladies' mothers died at different stages in their lives they view each birthday differently. My Grandmother Peggy died when she was in her early 50s I think around 52 but my husband's Grandmother Pat died when she was in her 70s I don't think she was quite 80 yet. So naturally I think seeing Grandma Peggy die in her 50s my mom is taking more of a "Yeah another birthday and another year I am alive and I am going to take full advantage of it." But my mother-in-law and I kind of overheard her say this "Why celebrate it, its just another year closer to dieing."

But if you take the difference of these two women into context of Leviticus during the Year of Jubilee all debts were to be forgotten and all slaves were to be set free, (ok maybe only the ones who had been slaves for 50 years). But any way I know that if I had a debt or had been a slave and I hit that 50 year mark and it was wiped away I know I would be shouting. But I wonder how many people weren't that thrilled at the end of those 50 years because they had started to identify themselves as a slave and they were either afraid to do something new with their lives or just could not break-free of the bondage and ended up going thru another 50 years.

Well here is your next Jubilee year, if you have celebrated one already I hope you learned from the years before to do things a little different and if you have reached that milestone I wish you a blessed journey.

Oh yeah as a side note my dad is approaching his 50th in September so mark your calendars.

Today's Reading:
Leviticus 25-27
Luke 7:36 thru Ch 10