faith

it was a beautiful, warm and intimate simcha for jilly mirkin and her family, as she became a bat mitzvah this afternoon. and, our family felt so honored to be a part of it; i loved hanging with the mirkin, rigberg, and horton (morgan for sure wants to babysit ruby) families. 
during the service, which was set in a peaceful outdoor synagogue at the jewish sleepaway camp hess kramer, rabbi stan levy discussed faith. he specifically relayed the story of when the jews fled egypt - trusting that they would cross the red sea unharmed and eventually find freedom. rabbi levy explained that the men packed last minute essentials (think matzo here), and the women brought along their tambourines, symbolizing hope, and reason for celebration. they sure had some faith! rabbi levy talked about leap of faith here. it wasn't obvious at all that the jewish people would make it to the other side. thank god for those musical instruments --foreshadowing achievement.
this tale spoke to my own heart today. i pulled out my phone to quickly jot some notes...
after a flawless torah reading by jilly, her family shared their wishes and dreams for her.  jeff, jilly's dad, put aside his prepared speech for his daughter to speak impromptu, and he, too, was moved by levy's punctuation on faith. he gave jilly some very poignant advice on living each day fully, seizing passion and having faith in whatever she does.
for me, the idea of faith leapt out at me. each day i face my own red sea of sorts. i'm so scared to bust out my "tambourine." it is in my "bag," i'm just not ready to give it a shake. faith for me right now feels so big. 
i had faith in my husband and in my marriage. my faith has changed and i'm trying to shift it towards me. deep down inside my heart, i have faith that i, too, will ultimately make it to the other side.

jilly, sara and the girls are sleeping at hess kramer tonight. it looked like they all had such fun.
sunday workout: kinetic 9a (yay for me to "sleep in" a little and relax while watching cbs sunday am (one of my favorite shows that glenn used to tolerate : )