Two more weeks to go in my sabbatical. What a gift this time has been, for reading and rest. I've had a general program for the reading. But I have very much enjoyed a feeling of openness -- of being able to take down whatever book is "calling" me, or to notice that the author I'm reading refers to another book, and to look into that one too. (I just don't have time to do that during non-sabbatical time!) It's a great thing to see connections that are made, from surprising sources.

For instance, one writer footnoted an essay by Wendell Berry in his 1990 collection, What Are People For?, so I've been reading through a number of those essays. In one, he quotes a proverb from William Blake: "You never know what is enough unless you know what is more than enough."

Spending a few days in a country such as Tanzania helps remind a person of that! Indeed, in our American culture of unprecedented affluence, it is nothing less than life changing, to know the difference between what is enough and what is more than enough. If nothing else, knowing this difference offers freedom from financial obligations we take on, to pay for what we think we need but in fact do not.

Patty and I just got back from Pawley's Island, in South Carolina. It's the second year that we've driven our "big" car -- a Plymouth Vibe (the twin car to the Toyota Matrix), which is tiny. We had four people in the car, since Patty's parents rode with us. I bungy-corded the beach chairs to the rack on top of the car. Other than those, we fit inside the car all that we needed for a week at the beach.

The word "needed" is the key. We took less than we've taken in past years, when we had a gas guzzling minivan. But, for the second year now, it turns out that the stuff we didn't have room for was stuff we didn't need!

We had a great week.

I've often talked and written about the challenge we face in American culture, in distinguishing between our "needs" and our "greeds." It's a spiritual challenge! These aren't new thoughts for me, and there are innumerable others talking and writing about what Tony Campolo calls "affluenza." But even a short immersion into an African culture (or another culture where there is not enough) gives additional perspective.