I always love the time of the holidays. Aside from the stressful parts, Rosh Hashanah is like the brand new coloring book with a new box of crayons with perfect tips and paper wrappers in tact. As I look at the wonderful pictures I get to color, I am filled with an imagination of how beautiful my pictures will look.
And as I color, it’s inevitable – Here and there, I cross over the lines. The picture I set out to create was perfect in my mind, but imperfect in its execution, at least on the exterior. But at the end of the year, I look back at all the pictures I’ve colored and something occurs to me, something very important. Not every picture crosses the lines. Some are done well, others have some small mistakes, and the collection of the pictures as a whole represent a year – my year – of efforts made, hitting the target, and sometimes, not.
It occurs to me that the coloring book is far more beautiful for having tried, and crossed the line, than to have never colored at all. It represents the hope that next year’s book will be better, less errors, more vivid colors, perhaps a bit more technically advanced, or maybe using softer colors, because after all – every year is different, and what’s important is that I make the effort to color at all. Truly, the coloring book, after all, is perfect. It is mine.
At Rosh Hashanah, I’m filled with inspiration of how I will color my year ahead. the fresh, clean slate makes me feel like a school girl again, and how I smile inside when I know that life is my coloring book, and I own a new box of crayons. What colors will you use this year? What masterpieces will you create?
L’Shanah Tovah!
