Chipping Sparrow : Work-Life Balance

Rufous-crowned Sparrow

This is a Rufous-crowned Sparrow.  He’s found a big load of nesting materials.  At first I thought he was pretty fortunate.  Then I realized he might have trouble even seeing where he’s going.  And at some level I empathize.  He’s working.  He’s gathering the inputs to build a home, to satisfy the needs of his mate and the ensuing generation.  What meaning there is there!  And for us watching, it can be absolutely fascinating to admire their craft, their ingenuity, and the committed devotion they bring to this most important of jobs.  He didn’t seem in a hurry to get back to the nest.  Maybe he was resting.  Maybe just taking a break.  Or maybe he was trying to get oriented and to gain a better sense of his destination before he left the perch.

The Jewish calendar provides explicit guidance on work and rest.  At the scale of a week, we are commanded both to work for six days and to refrain from working for one day.  During the course of the year, there are various festivals and observances during which we either do no work at all or limit our work to just that which is necessary to avoid significant loss or to prepare meals.  And there is the 7-year cycle which prescribes a whole year of rest for the land to allow replenishment and to reset the relationships of capital and labor.  Seemingly straightforward, there is actually enormous complexity in what constitutes “work,” when normal rules have to be suspended, and even where these rules do/do not apply.  Work is complex.

When we speak of “Work-Life balance,” what we mean is that we work too much.  We lament that meaningful activities and opportunities take a backseat to earning our daily bread.  But must there be this opposition, this adversarial relationship between “work” and “life?”  What if instead our work becomes a way by which we achieve balance in our lives?  Can we internalize a perspective that ennobles our work, that enhances our life rather than taking us away from it?  Tradition commands us both to work six days and to rest one.  Each fulfills a Divine instruction; each has inherent meaning.  Watching the Sparrow work, I saw the continuity he constructs for the future.  In our work, may we see clearly our contributions’ true value.