Psalm 119

Give me understanding, that I may keep your law
and observe it with my whole heart.
Lead me in the path of your commandments,
for I delight in it.
Turn my heart to your decrees,
and not to selfish gain.
Turn my eyes from looking at vanities;
give me life in your ways.

Last evening most Jews celebrated the end of Sukkoth.

I went out for drinks with a colleague.

It was a great place: fine wine, good food, wonderful service, fabulous location, beautiful night.

Were these momentary joys mere vanities? Empty symbols of selfish gain?

It is possible and worth careful discernment.

But I hope not and perhaps precisely in giving God thanks, the secular may sometimes be made sacred.

Sukkoth is, among other things, a celebration of vulnerability, diversity, and dependence. I am vulnerable to vanity. But in my relationship with God I know any sense of vanity is delusion.

Thanks be to God.

Psalm 119