Don't Just Do Something - Stand There!
Day by Day - Kislev 23
"You’re only as happy as your unhappiest child”. Parents can not be completely happy if their child is not.
Wednesday begins the second half of the week and preparations for Shabbat.
Q. Why three days preparation just to stop working? I can stop working at a moment’s notice.
A. Shabbat is more than cessation of work.
On Shabbat G-d feels content with His world, He rests. Goodness and holiness must always grow and increase, “No rest for the righteous”. But with creation, G-d is content on Shabbat. But He needs us, His children, to be content as well. This translates into thirty nine types of labor that are forbidden on Shabbat for they show discontentment: Cooking food because I don’t like it raw; Doing business because I need more money; washing cloths because I need a change, etc.
When I violate Shabbat it disturbs G-d’s contentment for a father is only as happy as his unhappiest child.
And so, to reach a state of contentment with our world; to like it just the way it is, sing praise to G-d.
Six days of the week we must not be satisfied with the way things are. We must harness nature’s powers to make life more livable. But on the seventh day we must stand back and adore the world as it is and see no need to change a thing.
Family has this pattern as well. There is a time to notice your child’s shortcoming; to agonize over their character flaws, bad habits and lack of knowledge – and then to do something about it all.
There is also a time when you must adore them: Stand back, be content with them as they are – it don’t get any better than this!
"You’re only as happy as your unhappiest child”. Parents can not be completely happy if their child is not.
Wednesday begins the second half of the week and preparations for Shabbat.
Q. Why three days preparation just to stop working? I can stop working at a moment’s notice.
A. Shabbat is more than cessation of work.
On Shabbat G-d feels content with His world, He rests. Goodness and holiness must always grow and increase, “No rest for the righteous”. But with creation, G-d is content on Shabbat. But He needs us, His children, to be content as well. This translates into thirty nine types of labor that are forbidden on Shabbat for they show discontentment: Cooking food because I don’t like it raw; Doing business because I need more money; washing cloths because I need a change, etc.
When I violate Shabbat it disturbs G-d’s contentment for a father is only as happy as his unhappiest child.
And so, to reach a state of contentment with our world; to like it just the way it is, sing praise to G-d.
Six days of the week we must not be satisfied with the way things are. We must harness nature’s powers to make life more livable. But on the seventh day we must stand back and adore the world as it is and see no need to change a thing.
Family has this pattern as well. There is a time to notice your child’s shortcoming; to agonize over their character flaws, bad habits and lack of knowledge – and then to do something about it all.
There is also a time when you must adore them: Stand back, be content with them as they are – it don’t get any better than this!
posted by Scruz | 9:23 PM
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