Sabbath Again - Day 39

In the closing of our 40 day experiment, it is good to look back at the place where we started. Many of us started at a place grappling with definitions. What is sabbath? What does it mean to practice the Sabbath? Do we even need to anymore? I have used this experiment as an opportunity to reconnect to the heart of sabbath and, as I've said so often in previous posts, reorient myself through sabbath practices. In this experience, sabbath has taken on a new meaning for my daily life, as I know it has for many of you as well.

So much of our lives is just this - taking words, old ideas, a life-time of education and experiences, meeting them again, and seeing them with new eyes. It is pretty awesome to watch something we once thought dead or meaningless suddenly filled, even breathing, with new life...



Most of us know the story, The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein. If you own a copy of it, take some time to read it or watch the video below. You may come to the story with reactions from previous readings... loving it, hating it, critique of this or that... As you read or listen to the story, I want you to read it from the perspective of sabbath.

Where do you see the gift of sabbath in this story? 



In his book, Yearnings, Irwin Kula discusses the different ways people usually understand The Giving Tree, closing with a description of the one he has found to be least popular, in which the story is re-titled, "The Receiving Boy."

Here the boy-turned-man is able to voice his vulnerability and accept the care of the tree. He is unafraid of showing his dependence. He is joyfully dependent, freely expressing his weaknesses, needs, and dreams. This in turn evokes unconditional generosity from the tree... This interpretation touches the part of us that longs to be cared for unconditionally; to share our neediness with our hands fully open and our hearts exposed. When we can overcome our fears, and surrender in this way, the boundaries between giving and receiving can dissolve. There is an honesty and transparency between helper and helpee. When we receive, we give. When we give, we receive.

We are created to give and receive. In sacred time, sabbath time, we live simultaneously as giver and receiver. 

Is it harder for you to give or receive? What are ways that Sabbath Mission can help you balance both of these needs?