Earthday, Birthday, Breathday: Part 1

       “I thank you, God” begins many a meditation and prayer.  It also begins a poem by E. E. Cummings:

       i thank You God for most this amazing
       day:for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
       and a blue true dream of sky;and for everything
       which is natural which is infinite which is yes

Cummings looks at the earthly and finds a witness to the Heavenly.    

       Something in a Saturday Minyan service at our temple made me think such thoughts a handful of years ago, the relationship between the earthly and Heavenly:  Shabbat is a celebration in gratitude for Creation, the Birthday of All, including the earthly.  And therefore Shabbat is also a celebration for ourselves.  Without Creation we would not be here.  The Sabbath is a celebration of our birthday.

       The next morning, upon awakening, I heard myself saying, “I thank God for this next Creation day” because Creation continues, and as God created me, I create each of 6 days as well.  And I’d better do as good a job of it as I can!    (To Be Continued)