Be Thou a Blessing

What do all those stories in Genesis have to do with us today?  A recent article by Ron Rolheiser outlines what he calls "The Three Stages of Our Spiritual Lives."  According to Rolheiser, the first stage of our lives is the struggle to get our lives established.  In this stage, we struggle to discover who we are, where we will live, what we will do, who will love us, etc.  This stage could last for years.

Once we have passed through that stage and our lives are somewhat settled, we enter into the second stage---the quest to find how we will give ourselves away, what contribution we will make to our families, our communities, and to the world in general.  For most of us, family and career or jobs and community involvement are ways of "giving ourselves away."

The final stage, in Rolheiser's view, is no longer occupied with giving ourselves away, but in figuring out how our death will be as much a blessing to our family and our world as our lives have been.  In his opinion, too little attention has been paid to this stage.  Although Rolheiser does not mention Jewish culture and traditions in his article, it may be that the Jews are the only culture where this last stage has been emphasized through their belief in the importance of family and descendents.

Rolheiser's article reminded me of the story of Abraham in Genesis.  Out of the backdrop of a dark and evil world portrayed in Genesis 2-11, God selected one man, Abraham, saying to him in effect, "Let me establish you and make your name great; let me lead you to a land you do not know and plant you there; let me give you many descendents and make you the father of  many peoples; through you all nations will be blessed:  Be Thou a Blessing (upon the earth*) (*my addition).

Before Abraham, the early stories in Genesis deal with mankind's own efforts to establish themselves, to make a name for themselves, and to gain ascendency.  Adam and Eve desired to "be as gods," according to the promise of the serpent; Cain slew Abel in his effort to establish himself as the favored one; Lamech asserted the law of revenge 7 times greater over anyone who wounded him; and the Tower of Babel was erected so that men could "make a name for themselves."

Out of this background of all the earth attempting to establish itself, God chooses Abraham and says to him, "let me establish you; let me make your name great; let me make you a blessing to all men and to all generations."

The fact that Abraham knew not where he was going means that he could not control his own destiny.  Daily, he built an altar and worshipped God to discover whether he was still on the right path, to hear the voice within, to find peace on the way.  And he was led, even when it seemed that he wound up in the wrong place--with Sarah in Pharoah's harem, for example.  On the way to where-he-knew-not, he learned to trust the One Who led him, to go with God, and to obey the One Who directed him. 

My point is this:  every one of us faces the tasks that Rolheiser describes:  the struggle to get our lives together, to make a contribution to our families and to the world, and finally to die as a blessing instead of a curse on the earth.  Our choice is whether "we" will "do it ourselves," like two-year-old children trying to tie their own shoes, or whether we will allow God to make our names great, and to establish our lives as a blessing on the earth.