My college friend’s mother passed away recently and I attended her service virtually. They are Jewish and the rabbi read this poem by Rabbi Alvin Fine and I think it is wonderful and wanted to share it.

 

LIFE IS A JOURNEY

 

Birth is a beginning

And death a destination

And life is a journey;

From childhood to maturity

And youth to age;

From innocence to awareness

And ignorance to knowing;

From foolishness to discretion

And then perhaps to wisdom.

 

From weakness to strength or

From strength to weakness

And often back again;

From health to sickness,

And we pray to health again.

 

From offence to forgiveness,

From loneliness to love,

From joy to gratitude,

From pain to compassion,

From grief to understanding,

From fear to faith.

 

From defeat to defeat to defeat

Until, not looking backwards or ahead,

We see that victory lies not

At some high point along the way

But in having made the journey

Step by step,

A sacred pilgrimage.

Birth is a beginning

And death a destination

And life is a journey.

 

While this is a beautiful poem and has wisdom, we must not forget that Jesus is our hope in our eternal life with God, and that our journey must include Him in all we do. Our destination is not an ending but an eternal life with our Savior.

To God be the Glory,

Lynn Manucci Warrick