I don't often write about religion, but this morning in Rosh Hashana services I read a passage in the prayer book that I found particularly impactful. It's not about religion so much as it's about life perspective, and life approach - I think we can, myself included, all benefit from focusing more on thinking about both of those things more often. The text I'm copying here is an abridged version, focusing on the portions that were most significant to me:
A Passage Read on Rosh Hashana
(edited)
The day has come
to take an accounting of my life
Have I dreamed of late
of the person I want to be,
in the changes I would make,
in my daily habits,
in the way I am with others,
in the friendship I show companions.
I have remained enchained too often
to less than what I am
But the day has come
to take an accounting of my life.
I, who am my own kind of needy person,
have been afraid of vision.
I need to be loved.
Do I deserve to be?
I need to love another.
Can I commit to my love?
Perhaps its object will be less than my visions
(and then I would be less)
Perhaps I'm not brave enough to find new vision
through a real and breathing person.
So long as I have breath
I know I have the strength
to transform what I can be
to what I am.
