Permission to Rest

The turkey or ham with all the fixings has been enjoyed, the pots and pans washed and put away.  If relatives or friends came over for the holiday, perhaps they’ve returned home, or maybe they’ll stay for a few more days.  If football is important, those games have been watched on TV or will be watched before the weekend is over.  For many people, the day after Thanksgiving is the day when they head for a Christmas tree farm or when they join in the Black Friday shopping spree at malls or online.

Taken all together, the Thanksgiving break beginning on the day before the holiday and continuing on through Sunday can be quite hectic.  That raises the question “Are we missing something with all this activity?” 

I don’t raise that question to make anyone feel guilty.  Instead, I raise the question in the same way that someone might point out that there is some benefit to our insurance or medical plan that we’re not taking. 

We might have heard that President Lincoln in 1863 in the heart of the Civil War set aside a day of Thanksgiving, and we have probably all heard of the first Thanksgiving shared by early European settlers and the Wampanoag people in 1621.  I prefer to trace the idea of a day of thanksgiving to its roots in Jewish life, especially in the fall harvest Festival of Succot and the weekly celebration of the Sabbath.

Both Succot and the Sabbath contain the common element of a break with routine.  For non-Jews, Succot might look a lot like a backyard campout.  A temporary shelter is built in which meals are eaten and where people can sleep.  The festival is a thanksgiving for a good harvest, for their ancestors’ rescue in the Exodus wanderings, and also for God’s gift of the Torah, the moral and spiritual code to live by. 

The Jewish Sabbath is a weekly break from work from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday.  Not only is work forbidden on the Sabbath, but even thinking or worrying about work is a violation.  Instead of the Sabbath being a “thou shalt not” day, it is better to think of the Sabbath as an invitation to “stop, you can live like royalty today.”

Judaism reminds us that giving thanks and resting are essential components of a full human life.  So what does “giving thanks” mean?   Don’t we say “thank you” when someone has done something for us or given us a gift?  Aren’t those two words “thank you” always preceded by a moment, a pause, when we open our empty hands and often our hearts to receive something?

It is that pause, whether that pause is for a moment, a day, or a season, which enriches our lives.  That pause reminds us that none of us is self-made or self-sustaining.  We all receive so much that is essential—this day, this next breath, this beautiful world, and friends around us. 

With the Thanksgiving break not ending until Sunday, there is still time to take a moment, a few minutes, or an hour to step back from all our activity and simply rest.  That way if someone on Monday asks what you did over the Thanksgiving weekend, you can smile as you say, “a bit of blessed nothingness.”