Birth is a beginning
and death a destination;
But life is a journey.
A going, a growing
from stage to stage:
From childhood to maturity
and youth to old age.
From innocence to awareness
and ignorance to knowing;
From foolishness to discretion
and then perhaps, to wisdom.
From weakness to strength
or strength to weakness
and often back again.
From health to sickness
and back we pray, to health again.
From offense to forgiveness,
from loneliness to love,
From joy to gratitude,
from pain to compassion.
From grief to understanding,
from fear to faith;
From defeat to defeat to defeat,
until, looking backward or ahead:
We see that victory lies not
at some high place along the way,
But in having made the journey,
stage by stage,a sacred pilgrimage.
Birth is a beginning
and death a destination;
But life is a journey,
a sacred pilgrimage,
Made stage by stage...
- Alvin Fine
I can’t say it better than Rabbi Alvin Fine (1916-1999). Happy New Year, Rabbi.
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