Parshah

Hayye Sarah

Moments pass,

Days become years,

Life begins and ends.

In this there is no choice.

But every day, in every encounter, we make a decision:

            Where we will offer our most precious gifts--

                        Our time,

                        Our love,

                        Our devotion?

Sarah's life had come to an end and Avraham realized it was time for Isaac to be married.  He sent his servant to find the right woman in the land that he and Sarah had left. The servant journeyed and prayed.  He prayed for the ability to fulfill his mission and he asked to find and to receive hesed - kindness, love and generosity.  He repeated these prayers when he arrived at the village he was seeking and placed the prayers upon his heart.

And as he did, Rebecca appeared, walking down to the spring.

She filled her jar with precious water.

As she came up from the well, she saw the man who had been praying.

            I will draw water for you and your camels until they finish drinking, she offered.                                                                                                                        Genesis 24:19

To provide water for a man and ten camels who had journeyed across the desert, Rebecca needed to go down to the well many, many times. Yet her offerings seemed effortless and unattached to reward or expectation.

What does it take to go down to the well,

To find the spring, the source,

To come up and share our offerings?

And then to go back down to the well again and again,

Filling our vessels with living waters,

Sharing our sustenance without hesitation,

Giving of ourselves with grace and love?

It is so easy to get stuck in webs of mistrust and fear.

The briars, the thickets of thoughts and stories that insist

We can't,

We shouldn't,

We aren't enough.

Go down to the well, the parsha calls,

Go deep and find what is yours to give.

And when rising up, be discerning.

Notice what offerings come from fullness

And what offerings spring from "shoulds" and "have tos" that are not kind or true.

Notice when the offerings result in depletion and disconnection

And when they inspire further generosity, honesty and love.

Moments pass,

Days become years.

This is our one life, right now.

Hesed--kindness, compassion, generosity--

Calls us down to the well,

Encourages us to reach deeply,

To discover our offerings

And then rise up full and able

To give our gifts with love.