Holidays

All of science, all of music, all of art, all of travel, all of literature, all new discoveries and adventure happen when people forget the words "impossible" and "never."

Most hostile people are very self-involved, an understandable complement to their cynicism. The longstanding focus on self, as well as the need to be in control, grows out of a lack of trust in others. If you don't place much trust in other people, you have only yourself to count on. Hence, much of your conversation is laced with references to yourself - I, me, mine. This low level of trust in others and its attendant high level of self-involvement frequently cause the hostile person to pay little attention to what the other person is saying or doing.

Fear and Hope

Inside the human heart is fear.

There is also hope.

The two wrestle constantly, like Jacob and his God.

Sometimes one prevails. Sometimes the other.

The struggle is sometimes silent, other times loud.

But it is constant - fear, hope, fear, hope.

Flashes of light and shadow twirling inside us all the time.

It is so much easier when there is love.

When love is in your life

It becomes the context for it all.

Love is the measure of a life well lived,

It is the beacon of possibility.

When I Am Among the Trees

When I am among the trees,

especially the willows and the honey locust,

equally the beech, the oaks and the pines,

they give off such hints of gladness.

I would almost say that they save me, and daily.

I am so distant from the hope of myself,

in which I have goodness, and discernment,

and never hurry through the world

but walk slowly, and bow often.

Around me the trees stir in their leaves

and call out, "Stay awhile."

The light flows from their branches.

We say that God sustains the world with grace. The Hebrew word for "sustain," m'chakel, has as its root "vessel." The image is beautiful. Our entire world is a beautifully constructed vessel overflowing with God's grace. So, too, should you imagine that your heart is a vessel filled with love and grace. Surround yourself with people who sustain that image as you venture on.

Rabbi Karyn D. Kedar, God Whispers: Stories of the Soul, Lessons of the Heart