As I wonder what I might write for our new website, the words of Psalm 90, in the magnificent, though inaccurate, King James Version, come to mind:
The days of our years are threescore years and ten,
And if, by reason of strength, they be four score years,
Yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off and we fly away...
I feel so blessed to be part of this community, despite no longer feeling able to contribute actively to it. And yet...who knows? Soon Bracha and I hope to move from the family house where we have lived since coming to FRS in 1973, to a flat elsewhere in Finchley – and once we are settled the next stage of our lives will begin.
So teach us to number our days, continues the Psalmist, so that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom...and let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us.
This seems to be the continuing task for each of us: finding ways of healing and joy for ourselves and one another through all the stresses and strains which we encounter in our lives. As the Psalm ends: Establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands, establish thou it.
