“In meadows

thick with grass

You lay me down,

Across streams

serene

You guide me.”

(Translation is from Rabbi Richard Levy’s book, Songs Ascending)

Inspiration

This psalm is about surrender. There will be times in our lives when we have no choice but to surrender and be led. Those are the moments where we have absolutely no control over our situation and there is nothing we can do to attain it. So we can continue to fight it, to bump against the wide, thigh wall. Or we can finally surrender and have faith that wherever we end up, we will handle it. Having no control of our journey can be scary and infuriating. It can lead us to rebel (against ourselves really) or throw our hands in the air in defeat. Surrendering means understanding that sometimes things play out as they will. And no matter what we do it will continue to take the path that it was meant to take. The hard part is that we don’t always get to see the path. So we allow ourselves to be led. Not necessarily forever and not in all ways. But sometimes and in some ways.

Rabbi Gabi