Counting the Days

"Teach us to number our days (correctly), that we may attain a heart of wisdom"- Ps. 90

During this period of time, Sefirat ha- Omer, we do just that: count. We are marking natural patterns: the harvest, and supernatural rhythms: the time it took from our birth as a people, to when we were ready to freely accept God's rules, not the strictures imposed upon us by harsh taskmasters. We try to be worthy of receiving the Torah, as our ancestors were. So, we do some soul searching and work on being better people. We might use those seven weeks  to build better habits.

One habit I am working on is carrying a bag with me on my morning walks, so that I can pick up the garbage I see along the way, instead of just complaining to myself about it. A habit I have not been so successful with is taking a deep breath and counting to three before responding...but I'm working on it. Why bother? Because that is the business of being human: going beyond our nature, because The Creator implanted within us the capacity for growth and change, for being "plus one", or  in other words, more than our programming.