I never know who I write for. This readership is so diverse. It can be challenging sometimes putting out my authentic voice and not tailor making it for one audience or another. But not today.
Today, with the wind blowing at my windowpane and the rain coming down in torrents – today for just a moment, we all seem more alike than ever.
I wondered today, as I played with my kids, what other people were doing. Was it wonderful having a day off of work? If you live alone, was it lonely or just cozy? And I wondered how can I , and others be enjoying parts of this day when a storm is clearly coming. Shouldn’t we be paralyzed with fear? It seems strange.
There’s an adage that I live by, “In every blessing there is a challenge and in every challenge, there’s a blessing.” A hurricane is a challenge, no doubt, and the loss and damage is going to be tremendous, but there’s a blessing here too.
Today, we didn’t run around trying to accomplish more than we possibly could. Today, we stayed home and kept our own company. Today, we slowed down, drank tea, spoke softer, laughed more and lived.
This is our gift. We need it. We need to not be able to go anywhere.
Half the world is suffering from starvation and we, in America struggle to stop eating. Most of the world’s population has no cars and we have too many places to go.
In truth, we live in Backward’s Land.
A place where we have so much that we’re tripping on it and for all our plenty, we miss out on the basics.
How do we know the difference between needs and wants? We learn that everything that we need, G-d made in abundance ; water.air, trees. And beyond that, laughter, love, a deep breath. They need no tools; no instrument is required to belt out a song.
On days where no storm is brewing ; where instead 6 projects, 2 appointments and dinner, are brewing; we forget what we need.
But today we remember. We’re not machines. We’re not programmed to perform at peak productivity every minute of the day. We’re human. We have a deep need to connect, to recharge, to think, to be creative.
This is just one of today’s blessings, remembering wholeness – a much slower, sweeter pace.
The storm will get worse, in some places it already has. But if it hasn’t hit you hard, and if you still have electricity, how about using this slow sweet time to awaken your heart and soul?
Play with your children, read a great book or go to simpletoremember.com and get answers to Jewish questions you never knew you could ask. Feed your soul with something brand new and delicious.
all the best, Rivka Malka
