Sam here, with Chapter 2 of Lewis Hyde’s The Gift: Creativity and the Artist in the Modern World.
About twelve years ago, I led my first wilderness trip for college students. I liked it enough that I still do it. Nowadays I only get out once or twice a year, but one thing hasn’t changed: I see each trip as a gift. As you can imagine, some participants like this gift, some want to discard it, some end up giving the gift to others, and so on.
I said each trip is a gift. Let me clarify. The first and best lesson I ever learned about wilderness trips was that the trip itself isn’t the most important part. Huh? Going to the woods, hiking on trails and sleeping under the stars have a decent amount of value as trip elements, especially if you don’t live where there are woods and trails and visible stars. But the true value turns out to be in the increase of the trip.
That’s Hyde’s new term in Chapter 2. Increase refers to what happens because a gift is given. See if my wilderness example helps to explain what he means.
Going to the woods
The increase of going to the woods is learning how to suspend normal, everyday, civilized life and recognize how interdependent we really are as human beings. We need Sabbath rest from daily comforts and individualism, and this rest comes as the increase.
Hiking on trails
Similarly, the increase of hiking on trails is gaining an awareness of others’ limitations as well as being brave enough to voice our own. If your tired legs keep a hiking group from moving, embarrassment can make it excruciating to ask for help. Yet, asking for help is necessary and normal. Doing it – against the temptation to lie about your pain – reveals the gift’s increase.
Sleeping under the stars
Finally, the increase of sleeping under the stars is appreciating God’s majestic creativity, confronting fears of the dark and of unseen (but heard!) animals, and extending grace to strangers snoring ten inches away.
In each scenario, the activity is less important than what the activity provides. I don’t mean to sound overly utilitarian, but a wilderness trip is not an end in and of itself. It is a vehicle. The real gift I offer to student participants is found along the journey. Interestingly, I can’t control the increase. I can take someone to the woods, put him on a trail and sleep next to him under the stars. I can also use my gift-giving skills well to encourage increase. But I can’t force it. I can’t dictate it or dole it out in predetermined amounts. I do my part (give the gift of a wilderness trip) and then trust that God will do His to “produce a crop – a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”
“The increase is the core of the gift, the kernel.” Well said, Hyde.
The floor is yours for discussion. If you want a place to start, consider these two questions:
1. How or where do you see increase in the gift you call your work?
2. What is the risk of seeing a job only as a vehicle?
Gingko in Child’s Hand photo, by L.L. Barkat. Post written by Sam Van Eman
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I’m thinking we rarely know what the true increase is… but perhaps this is part of what makes it the “increase.” If we could limit it, even with our ability to comprehend it, that would box it in and make it more commodity (something that can be quantified and measured) than gift… . Perhaps?
Oh, and I should have also said, I loved this view into your experience!
I love this example, Sam!
I am thinking that the increase also lies in the giving of yourself to these young men and women. What they will carry with them from the wilderness experience is probably secondary to the wisdom
they gained from their fearless leader.
Keep the gift moving…
I’m reminded of the old cliche… you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him increase.
All of this emphasis on outdoors and wilderness makes me want to go back out to Laity Lodge!
I tend to move along the same thought lines as L.L. Essentially when we ‘freely give because we have freely received’ the increase is not the motive, the gifting is and therefore the increase would contain an element of surprise or rather mystery to it. When we freely give, we receive Christ in return and that will always be a new discovery.
Increase in my work is found in the humbling experience of learning from those who have actually come to learn from me.
Seeing a job only as a vehicle denotes a selfish motive of giving to get. When I freely give without wanting in return, I receive in abundance.
Reading this post and writing this comment, I realise that I still have much to learn about God’s selfless heart and than in itself is increase.
So amen! God’s plan for each one of us fruitfulness. He said in his word, “let us go and MULTIPLY”. Let’s be many and let’s increase! But here’s on thing we need to remember Paul planted, Apollos watered but God gives the increase. You see our jobs, our lives and everything that we do can be vehicles for God’s expansion of HIS kingdom only if we choose to water and plan God’s word where we have been stratyegically placed by God. it’s not necessary that you stand in front and preach from the Bible but really this can be done through smile to a friend, a tap on the back, a meaningful text, a prayer for others. all these things that we are able to do are gifts from God and my prayer is for us to use these gifts to spread his glory and give Him thanks!
thanks for the post! God Bless you!
I agree with the mystery of our giving , and also with our receiving , as I referred to in my comment on your article in catapult.
In my part-time work ,gardening or sewing, the gifts seem to come from the relationships , the listening, the sharing in creation and the delight in how the “product ” will be used or grow or treasured. It gives to me much more than the monetary exchange. I in turn re-gift that back into my family , friends, community .
I mustn’t let that consume me as my only purpose or calling, enjoying the joy, but staying humbled in the mystery. I can’t know if this is where I am supposed to matter, if indeed I do. I am continually working at staying positive and engaged and open in all the more difficult and less instant moments of parenting, housework, etc.
Thanks for allowing me to ramble. I am enjoying the book and how it makes me think about things from so many perspectives.
Great comments on how increase occurs! Sorry I couldn’t jump in sooner.
Several of you referred to the surprise element of increase. Interestingly, there are many formulaic elements in trip designing. In other words, certain activities produce predictable increase. For example, get-to-know games actually produce increase in familiarity and trust between strangers. There is little to no surprise in these results, and many other activities work the same way.
Consequently, a common discussion arises in outdoor adventure circles around the tension between “design” and “manipulation.” How do we create intentional space for increase to occur without manipulating the process and exact outcome? It’s a rather fine line.
However, the possibility for surprise does remain, and more so as participants and weather and conversations take unexpected turns. These moments are where I feel like the farmer in Jesus’ parable of the growing seed (Mark 4:26-29)(Thanks, Mikes, for the Paul/Apolos/God reminder). The farmer creates the space, so to speak, and he has a pretty good sense of what his preparation will do. But he doesn’t know how it works. Nor does he know how the weather will affect the crop by season’s end. “You can lead a horse…”
I wonder, do any of you see this tension between design and manipulation in your own lives (e.g. at work or when you have visitors for tea)?
Aw, shucks, Laura.
Claire and Deb, you both mentioned humility. Humble experiences in the wilderness seem to correlate with the amount of surprise in God’s mysterious work. In other words, the more unexpectedly God shows up, the more involuntarily I drop to my knees. Like Simon in Luke 5:8.
Deb, you also referred to the listening and sharing in gardening. I’m reminded of our enhanced ability to witness the increase when we’re very close to the gift; when we’re paying attention to it. (Is that what you meant?)
You asked about the tension between design and manipulation. I like Prov. 21:31 for that:
The horse is made ready for the day of battle,
but victory rests with the LORD.
We do prepare. We do plan the trip. We do our best to make sure things are just so in order to help people encounter God or feel loved or whatever our goal happens to be.
But we can never take credit for the increase. God shows up because God shows up. Any victory belongs to the LORD. We’re still the ones on the horses. We’re still the ones who get the horses ready for battle with training and feeding and fancy horse armor and stuff.
(What is it with me and horses in this discussion?)
Just to push a bit, Marcus, are there times when you “control” the victory, too?
For instance, if your son were having a down day and you knew he loved horses, couldn’t you take him horse-back riding, knowing it would cheer him up?
I would say that is a bit like getting the horse ready–to continue with the proverb’s imagery. All goodness, all “victory” comes from God. This is something I have to constantly remind myself because I’m always wanting to pat myself on the back and think of all the wonderful good things I do for the world. (I hope I’m not the only one who is so twisted in my arrogance…)
So in your example, as a parent, I can guide my son to the horses I know he loves. But I can’t take credit for his love of the horses or the beauty of the horses. At best, I can just share that love.
Originally, I stumbled on this verse as a way to help performance artists keep a good attitude about the performance. We practice and practice and practice for a play, but we can’t ever think our practice means we deserve credit or glory or applause.
On the other hand, I’m not good at accepting praise, so maybe this is just another one of my hangups. I’ve got a few.
I think we can take some credit for the increase. And that’s probably a good thing, or we might quit planning hikes, serving tea, writing poems, commenting on book club posts…
Can I manipulate anyone into visiting Laura’s blog? She has an excellent post on Hyde’s Chapter 2.
Check it out here.
Sure Sam. But that’s because I want to go anyway. ; – )
yes, Sam, and honestly I chose to garden quietly for clients, or sew on my own, yet without intention, have been blessed by all the people stories. They inspire and also keep me listening and talking and wondering if this is where God shows up more or instead.
Sam – Your two questions at the end of your post have been nagging me for quite some time. I have been questioning the difference betwen a “Performance”- basd view of work vs. a “Purpose”-based view of work. In the corporate environment, performance is significant – it’s how we measure the value of the work getting done, shareholder satisfaction, customer experience, etc. But too much self-focus on the performance itself leads to burnout and emptiness. By focusing on Purpose (which is tied to giving, helping others, letting God use me for his greater good), the performance becomes secondary as we integrate our work with God’s spirit working through us. The focus shifts from self to others – and the increase comes through giving rather than getting.
Bradley, this made me think of the latest encyclical from the pope. I haven’t read it, but I read about it. Apparently, he comes down pretty hard on economies that encourage a business to consider the needs of their share holders over and above the needs of their stake holders (employees, customers, distributors, etc.) I think performance is the concern of the share holders. They want the stock itself to perform, often in the short term. But stake holders are interested in the purpose and the relationships of the work.
Right on, Deb.
Brad, nice angle from the business world. Hyde shies away from the word “profit” because of the transactional nature you’re talking about. As you said, it’s too self-focused: What will I get out of this? Am I getting an equal or greater amount back for what I put in?
But what do you do when your purpose isn’t performing; when what you stand for doesn’t profit?
I like the horse clarification. Would you say you become a “facilitator” of the increase, meaning you “make easier; help bring about” the increase?
Speaking of increase, I like the Wibiya bar below.
Oh, and it’s HCB green. How cool is that?
Sam… a little fun… be sure to catch my “Gift” poem. It wasn’t something I’d originally planned for this week (now isn’t that just the best sort of gift sometimes?)
“let me
be”
I feel that way when a certain gift makes me want to spend time alone with it. A long-awaited book, a new journal and Sharpie pen (Fine), a day hike on a deserted trail…
To tie this to the convo above, the increase comes after solitude and gift admiration mingle.
(Readers: find the poem here.)
i just spent a few days with my oldest daughter. we drove to california on a quest to find a place for her to live for her first year of graduate school. her first time living on her own, without a roomate. no roomate to know if she got home, if she was sick, to keep her company. my worries as a mother. it is late to be looking for a place. the better deals and places are highly coveted. we ended up with a place that is expensive but was a cancelation of a girl that was not going to the school after all…a change of plans of someone, left a space for sydney. i had prayed about finding the place for her before we left. now, i don’t know how God took care of that, how long He knew about our need and when we would need it….but, in His way, He took care of it. i am sure of that. how God works is such a mystery to me.
thinking about the Gift…
i am seeing the Gift, you know, like something that has been enclosed in some sort of wrapping and even with something tied around the wrapping so that it is secure. the gift is set before me, in an act of giving, i see the gift, have a look at it and i make a decision if i am going to take the gift into my hands.
i take the gift into my hands. now, i can put the gift down to admire it, and i find that nothing happens.
or i can untie and unwrap the outer layers.
i decide to take the tie away from the gift letting it fall away, and then to take away the outer layer of the gift, i can not just look at the gift, but that the gift is a power, it is alive, it has very much to do with life, it is life itself, it is love. as i live with this gift it becomes apparent that the gift is giving me it’s self , as my self is no longer there.
the thing is, i am aware in my mind and heart that the Holy Spirit does this work in me. and other than that, it is a mystery to me as to how it happens.
but, i know that there is a peeling away, a giving up, a giving away, a humbling, a death, that happens in the process of the gain that is being given.
also i find that the gift itself, as seen as Jesus, also, gave away, gave up something, had a humbling and death in the process of the gain. Jesus showed us in his life and death, the process that would happen if we acceped Him, the Gift.
maybe i can get to the “job” questions later.
nAncY,
Thanks for these careful reflections on the gift of your daughter. Mine are eight and five and though we’ve just begun our hike, I’m already seeing this giving and receiving that takes place.
May God bless the two of you this year.
thanks, sam.
eight and five are such wonderful ages.
very much at home at that age, and playful.
i still have not read chaper three, but, plan to get back on track there soon.
i have always seen how when something in our life as humans is no longer available, or we can not do any more due to the body aging…(just thought of groups aging as well, when i wrote body)…
anyway, when those things have moved on, and it is let go of, in trust and faith in the Love of God, that there is always something given to us,
a completely different thing or lesson or change of heart, mind, spirit and refreshing Life. and i don’t see this as an exchange as much as something that has come around through all time, through the ages, through many hearts and souls and minds of people, and through me, through faith and Love, by the Holy Spirit…from God.
always moving, or flowing. i guess flowing might be a better defining word.
it is quite easy to be afraid of the loss of what is familiar in life, and to want to have that to hold-on to.
it is easy for us to focus on what we are continually seeing move on, to see our human loss. and since what we are gaining is unknown to us and sometimes it is a bit of time before we see the fruit of it, that it is hard for us to accept this continual change.
we would like to receive before we give, but, really …something is being continually given as we learn to let it flow through us. we actually do not keep, we actually accept the flow, if we keep the gift from flowing through us and we dry up and die…
we are very focused on keeping what we have already been given.
we want life to be comfortable, and change is not comfortable. the more that we think that we control change, the harder we become and the flow dries up.
what we really control is the openess to the flow, the trust, the faith in the One, “the Gift”, that is flowing through us, and creating the continual giving.
there is no taking and keeping…only giving. a flow of Life that gives us a closer walk with God as death takes our body.
a flow of the Gift of Life as death takes it’s toll.
we can not hold on to the things of this life, but, we can focus on the Gift of Life that is flowing through us and out to others.
the Gift of Love and Life given to us from God in Jesus, flowing through our mind, heart and spirit, in the form of the Holy Spirit.
the best we can do is to “go with the flow” of the Gift.
1. How or where do you see increase in the gift you call your work?
As I plan for year two of campus ministry, I can help but think of the small group bible studies at meals I am planning on. I can give the gift of inviting people to a space, preparing, tell a few jokes, asking good questions, but at the end of our time together, God does the moving and the transforming. My hope is that out of these experiences to re-discover the beauty and power of Scripture and pass it along to others in the next semester and next year as other groups develop to be places of intentional learning, community, and discipleship. Sounds a lot bigger than saying “let’s read a few verses and eat cereal”. Whew!
Other example comes to mind through my partnership at Standing Stone Coffee Company. I could make a sandwich in a standard fashion by the instructions by the prep station or make a drink as I have been taught, but where does my care of presentation, portion, and quality come into play? It’s exciting to make a great diagonal cut across bread (trying to use a grid with my eyes) or selecting a mug to match the customer’s apparel (it’s true, I’m an aesthetics person), but even more exciting to make eye contact and give something that is beyond the price paid – the experience of hospitality, celebration of taste buds, and relationship from behind the counter (even if it’s just a smile).
2. What is the risk of seeing a job only as a vehicle?
Burnout! Where’s the fun in making your job a less-than experience? It not only hurts yourself in the moment but can tarnish your perception and passion of your job. I’ve worked days in the fashion of “a means to an end”. At the end of the day, what did I really do? Did I enjoy any of the busyness? Do I feel more valued or healthy? Often times I do not. I rather challenge myself to be more about the journey without neglecting the destination.
Lindsay,
Nice touches at Standing Stone. I admire that conscientious approach. Too often, I walk into a restaurant or fast food place and find the cashier apathetic. I don’t go back.