(Note: My hope is to write Omer Reflections as they come to me. Life is full these days, I will do my best.)
For me, counting the Omer is about reflection. Through the counting I actively work towards coming to grips with different parts of my essence while also looking at how I interact with the world around me. As we count the days from slavery to freedom, I reflect on the biblical journey from Pesach to Shavuot and I take an accounting of the slavery that surrounds me as I try to do my part to put slavery on a shelf that will one day become a mere memory.
There are seven weeks between Pesach and Shavuot; each week has a big theme worthy of exploration with daily chapters that allow us to experience deeper discovery. As in all philosophies, there is no one correct way of moving through this journey.
With each day, I can choose how I will do my dance of emergence. In this week of chesed, loving-kindness, I get to decide how I will navigate all that is going on in my world. There is nothing simple about my current journey. With each breath I am struggling to figure out how I can live with integrity while I face personal and professional struggles.
In this moment, I am struggling. Yet I am standing firm in my commitment to live consciously and to face my journey with both an inner and outer loving-kindness.
As the day begins to wane, I am looking at the 5th day, Hod she b’Chesed, acceptance within loving-kindness. or perhaps withdrawing my ego in order to make room for true loving-kindness. Life is what it is and yet I have many roles to play in making things work in the best possible way.
At this moment, my ego has evolved. I no longer feel I have the answers as I once did. With that in mind, it is my job to navigate the world with openness. I need to breathe in the goodness, breathe out the despair and allow the answers to life’s challenges to come as they can. And while that is happening, I need to remain with chesed in my heart and in my being.
May I have the ability to trust the universe and allow all of the answers come in their right time.