Birthday Reflections – Thankfulness (The Third of Three Reflections)

Recently I was honored by my Temple community,
and I am thankful for the honor and the recognition,
for who would not be.

Yet, the greatest part of the honor was the opportunity
to publicly express my love and thankfulness
for my family and for the life that I have been given.

We each are thrust into this world
at a certain (or perhaps uncertain) time and place, and
from there we are expected to make the best of what we have.

Though we often hear that our lives are in our hands and
that each person has an equal opportunity,
I do not believe that to be the case
for we each have different starting points, different abilities, different benefits and detriments.

So perhaps all that can be expected is that
we each do the best with what we have
in a world that is neither fair not level.

I can only hope that I have done my best
to do well with what I have been given, and
that my life will have done a minimal of harm and,
if I am lucky that my life will have been for some good

Birthday Reflections – Redemption (The Second of Three Reflections)

Who among us is not constantly in need of redemption?

Only one who does not need . . .

To change paths and recapture purity
To apply the lessons of life to future actions
To use accumulated knowledge to adjust or remake

I for one seek and need such redemption . . . constantly.

Who among us has the right to stand in judgment?

Only one without . . .

Actions that are regretted
Decisions that would not be taken back
Words that we would not withheld

I for one am not able to stand in judgment, but can only offer insight and advice.

Who among us has the right to withhold support and faith?

Only one who . . .

Lives without others
Moves through the world without attachment
Exists independent of the need for human contact

I for one needs and will give support and faith.

Who among does not believe in the possibility of redemption?

Only one who fails to see . . .

The magnificence of evolution
The rebirth of the phoenix
The progressions throughout life

I for one know that redemption is possible and necessary.

Though I know that I cannot recapture my youth nor relive any portion of my life, I know that I have the opportunity with each year, each day, each hour, each minute, each second and each moment to seek and find redemption.

Birthday Reflections – Air (The First of Three Reflections)

From the moment of birth
When we leave the nurturing water
We are always enveloped by air
Warm or cool, moist or dry, thick or thin

Always providing life’s sustenance
Wrapping us in its stillness
Preserving, protecting and sustaining
Blowing over and around us

Its speed and direction created
By our own decisions,
Our motions through time and space,
Or causes and conditions beyond our knowledge and control

We luxuriate as the air stimulates our senses
Reacting as each change in the air changes us
Relishing the movement across our bodies, and
The awareness that is created.

The day will come
When the air no longer sustains or preserves me
When I will not feel or react to its changing temperature or composition
When I will be the dust that flies through the air
But that day is not today . . . it is not today.

For today is a day to breath deeply
To run through the fields and feel the wind rushing by
To be still and feel the wind gently wrapping me
To breath in life and exhale happiness and contentment

For life is good . . . life is good, and
I will breath of it . . . deeply.

Birthday Reflections

Birthdays are wonderful times to reflect and so, on the day before my birthday, my gift to myself is the reflections that are in the following three posts.