Dear Friends,
What a glorious week it has been! Houston weather can be rather temperamental, but this is one of those weeks that invites us to embrace the beauty and grandeur of nature. Spring is in the air (as all of our allergies are telling us), and the world of creation is singing a song of glory. In some ways, it is as if nature is telling us to count our blessings or take an inventory of the goodness that surrounds us.
This kind of spring inventory is a long standing Jewish tradition as Jews around the world are currently observing a sacred period called, “the Counting of the Omer.” This observance is based on the biblical mandate to count bundles of grain (the omer) every day for 7 weeks from the second day of Passover through the festival of Shavuot.
Today, this ritual counting has more to do with cultivating the human spirit than it does with cultivating the land. One modern interpretation of the Counting of the Omer suggests that this ancient ritual encourages us to count our blessings and make each and every day of our lives count.
If you have already done so this week, take a walk or sip a cup of coffee outside. We all know that this gorgeous weather will soon give way to ceaseless heat and humidity. Let us find a little time to take it all in, and as we do, we need to be counting our blessings every day.
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