Making the most of our days
It is almost Rosh Hashana.
And I find myself in the kitchen.
Hands floured, fingers sticky with sweet honey, gently kneading the dough that will become not one but two plump rounds.
On the stove, a soup pot bubbles, redolent with onion and dill, its scent wafting through the room.
With love.
With memory.
With gratitude.
And so it is this holiday season, as we welcome a new year, I am yet again, marveling at the circling of the year, how it provides abiding comfort, even if the days, months, years seem to move ever faster, even as we move a little slower, as we age.
And so I find contentment in the simple things, the yeasty scent of bread baking, the rich fragrance of chicken soup simmering, making the work of my hands a part of the year’s cycling, as one year turns to the next.
And so, we celebrate the birth of the world, and its forward momentum, one year, one holiday to the next, as Rosh Hashana gives way to Yom Kippur and on to Sukkot.
The cycle propels us ever forward, yet asks us to look back, to assess where we have come from, and look ahead to where we are going. To make amends for our mistakes, to vow to do better, to turn our behaviors to the path for good.
And to remember.
Those who came before us, and those who will come after.
I am grateful, so very grateful, for the memories made and those yet to come.
They are particularly meaningful now, at an inflection point, poised between one generation and another, ever grateful for the strength, courage and wisdom of those who preceded us, and for the limitless possibility and promise of those who follow.
And I am ever more aware of the precariousness of our lives, and the preciousness of our days, and how to use them, especially now, in the time between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, when according to our tradition, our life is in the balance.
And so, I am thinking about what it means to be in the moment.
To live fully, to love deeply, to be kind, and generous and caring, to delight in the small things, to see the world with wonder, to bask in its beauty, to be joyful, and to awake grateful, oh, so grateful, for each and every day we are given.
And to remember it in all its sweetness.
G’mar Chatimah Tovah.
May it be so.
