Illuminate the Path of Our Life
Estimated reading time: 1 minute, 52 secondsToday, I pray for not only a sweet, healthy new year but also one that focuses on the changes I need to find the purpose of my existence.
For Kol Nidrei, the prayer that ushers on the holy day of Yom Kippur, I had the honor of reading an English portion of the service.
After I spoke, I realized it was the first time I had been called to the bimah on the high holidays without Jan.
My reading was a contemporary Avinu Malkeinu that presented a series of questions acknowledging our responsibility for our lives.
It was the ideal lesson for me as I began a year of growth and change.
Was it merely luck that I was assigned this passage? Or was it another divine intervention like the one I had experienced after the fire? Or when I selected Being Mortal to read on our last vacation?
Avinu Malkeinu – Illumine for us the path of our life.
How shall we find the strength to take the road less traveled?
How shall we come to know the purpose of our existence?
How shall we learn not to live life in vain?
How shall we get out of our indifference?
How shall we distinguish between truth and falsehood?
How shall we find the answers to our questions?
How shall we gird ourselves with the strength to seek answers?
Are these all of the questions I have? No, but the implication is that I can ask additional questions.
In addition, at the end of the reading, we called upon divine guidance,
Avinu Malkeinu – Be gracious to us, answer us, empower us, and give us courage, for the answers are both in You and with You.
If I can change my life this year, perhaps I may one day join her as someone who lived well.
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