just this morning

I haven’t written of feathers in a long while.

This isn’t because they aren’t appearing in my life, or because I no longer cling to these holy reminders I am loved and treasured. The world is filled with trouble and pain and worry, and as we all do, each morning I rise and make my way through it, processing, fretting, hurting–for my own challenges, for those of the people I love. For people everywhere whose lives are changed in an instant.

For those whose lives never seem to change.

Yesterday I received a feather of a different kind. It is this podcast conversation (Katie Couric, episode 45) between Brian Goldsmith and Rabbi Steve Leder, Senior Rabbi of Wilshire Boulevard Temple, the oldest synagogue in Los Angeles. Rabbi Leder talks of pain and how it transforms us–about forgiveness, about caring for each other, about politics and his perspective on taking a stand as a religious leader.

There is so much in this conversation my soul already knew, and yet Rabbi Leder puts an honest light on and within these topics that made me hear it all anew.

What a beautiful, beautiful gift during the last days of this Advent season.

I can’t stop thinking about it, my friends.

You can listen by clicking here, then choose episode 45.  

XXOO

30 Days of Joy