Shmitah -- Release.
This year is the final in the seven year cycle of the land, during which
time it is not to be worked. It is a Shabbat
for the land. “Six years you may sow
your field and six years you may prune your vineyard and gather in the yield. But in the seventh year the land shall have a
Sabbath of complete rest, a Sabbath of the Eternal: you shall not sow your field or prune your
vineyard. … It shall be a year of complete rest for the
land” (Leviticus 25:3-5).
If seeds aren’t sown and weeds aren’t pulled, what are we to
eat? The land, actually, continues to
produce even without human industry.
Seeds are scattered by the wind; crops drink rain when they can. Yields may be smaller, but they are still
enough. And we can save during the sixth
year to protect against any shortfall.
Since food is a fundamental need, releasing our control over
its production calls us to have powerful faith.
Somehow, God willing, it will all work out.
I so often see people trying to muscle their way through life: admission to the right college hinges on each
test, the bar mitzvah center pieces have to be just so, we slave to buy a home
with the right address. They have a plan
for their lives and they make it come true.
Industry is good; we create the lives we lead. At the same time, some of us place ourselves
under extraordinary stress that harms our health without actually bettering our
lives.
What would happen, I wonder, if we relaxed our grips just a
little bit? What would it be like if we
weren’t so very attached to a particular outcome, but instead let things happen
in the easiest possible way? What if we
valued grace over strength?
If we allow life to unfurl as it will, at least 1/7th
of the time, we might experience even greater wonder than what we had planned.
No comments:
Post a Comment