Good morning, digital neighbors! Blessed and beautiful Sunday, Friends & Refugees, Early Birds & Later Dayers, Conversants, Lurkers, and Seekers. Hey there, PHAM—all you Misfits and Politically Homeless and Discontents, and finally the homebrewed crew of ADD Irregulars, WSN Curators, Curmudgeons, and Coffee Talkers! I am so very thankful for the people God and fate (perhaps the same) have placed in my life.

Sundays are for gratitude. It all begins with our conception and birth. Chances are your conception was just a random moment of intimacy for your parents; they may have been seeking a child at that time, but more than likely just enjoying the moment. If by chance your parents had fertility issues, they may know the day of your conception, but for most of us it was just another moment of sex. Mom and Dad were feeling frisky and here you are. Humbling, but thankful to be here nonetheless. It has been a beautiful pilgrimage thus far, not without its difficult chapters, but I have been blessed by the Giver and nothing diminishes that when I nourish that truth as my most fundamental reason for gratitude.

BIRTH IS A BEGINNING

Birth is a beginning
And death a destination.
And life is a journey:

From childhood to maturity
And youth to age;
From innocence to awareness
And ignorance to knowing;
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,
And 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.
And life is a journey,
A sacred pilgrimage —
To life everlasting.

RABBI ALVIN I. FINE

Lago Federa, Cortina d'Ampezzo, BL, Italia Angelo Casto - Unsplash