Can you believe that we are in mid-August, and the summer is nearly over? If you’re anything like me, you probably had big plans for the summer. You’re finally going to reorganize your office or that bedroom. You will finally have time to do that project you’ve been pushing off for months. You will absolutely get a lot of extra Vitamin D outdoors and under the sun. And for sure make it a priority to get plenty of physical activity done and spend lots of extra time with family and friends (over good food).
And again, if you’re anything like me, you’re probably sitting here (heck, reading the Back to School Issue of The Voice!) and thinking to yourself, “Wow, where did my summer go!” I’m sure you got plenty done, but boy, how you would have loved to do so much more.
Well, I’m here to tell you that the summer is not yet over. There’s still time, and now is a wonderful opportunity to accomplish many of those items on your pre-summer-mind-to-do list. Take out a pen and paper, write down when and how you will get some of those items done, and get to work. You’ll hopefully notice that it is not too difficult, and you can probably accomplish most of it in the next few weeks.
As I was (trying to) tell this to myself, I was thinking that this is very similar to what Moshe is doing in this last book of Devorim which we are now studying. Moshe is speaking to the Jewish people at the end of the 40-year journey in the desert, discussing everything that transpired up to that point, the lessons learned, and how to shape up and look ahead to the future in Israel. In this week’s Parsha, Re’eh, we are told “Re’eh—See the blessing and curses before you.” Take stock and make sure to choose wisely as you are about to enter the Holy Land.
This is also the theme of the Hebrew month of Elul, which we will soon enter. Rosh Hashanah is around the corner (yes this is true, and I don’t mean to scare you) and instead of entering the Jewish New Year having wished we could have had a better 5783, let’s use this last month to take stock of our year and see how we can do even better these last 30 days. Let’s accomplish some of those things we were hoping to accomplish as we sat here last September. Let’s get it done—physical, spiritual, mental, and emotional matters in our relationships with our spouses, children, G-d, and even ourselves. Let’s do this! Yes, this is easier said than done, but there is no better time to accomplish this than NOW!
After such a great end to the summer and a wonderful month of Elul, we can then enter the New Year of 5784 with a big smile on our face, feeling accomplished and with greater ambition.
Wishing you a wonderful and accomplishing last few weeks of your summer and a (can’t believe I am saying this,) Shana Tova!
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