Everything That Rises Up Sweet

I feel the need to balance the bitter with the sweet, so I'm writing a post to hopefully do that somewhat. I chose this photograph because I frankly am a chocolate fan, as well as the fact that it is a little tower rising up. Truthfully, I eat some chocolate almost every day. But, this not really the sweet I want to talk about. 

Because the Velveteen Rabbi's post was really about the internal sourness that we can create and hang onto, I wanted to also think about the internal sweetness that we can help rise up to make our lives calmer and more compassionate. I think it is better to hang onto internal sweetness rather than internal sourness.

I have taken the poem that Rachel Barenblat wrote and created its opposite. Here it is: 

Everything that the rises up sweet
Everything that rise up helpful
Everything that rises up out of wisdom
Everything that I am that is not sour
whether I embrace it or not
May all this join with all that 
is sweetness in others
Amen amen
selah

I hope that I can sweep out the sour and not let it ferment in me. I hope that I can see through the fermented sourness in others to see their essence, their similarity to me. I hope that I can join in laughter and community and not let the bitter, the sour divide me from others.

I hope that Barenblat approves if she ever sees this. To see her post about Hametz, click here.