This week I heard a radio commercial pushing a retirement financial product, in doing so they mentioned, that on average most people get to enjoy 6000 days of retirement. Now I have never thought about it myself, but it made me start doing the math on how they got to that number and how many years that are estimating on. I quickly realized that I hope people get many more days than that. Either way it got me thinking about time and how fast it goes by and how before we know it another 7, 20 or a 100 days have passed by.
Interestingly enough, we find ourselves in the one time a year when Judaism gives us a special Mitzvah and Tradition to count time. The Sefirat Haomer as it is known or the counting of the Omer which spans the 49 days between Day 2 of Passover and the Holiday of Shavuot is the only time in the Jewish Calendar when we have a specific instruction to count time, by counting each day and making a blessing on counting the time. In doing so we seek to use the time span of the Counting of the Omer and the daily count to better ourselves each day and through taking upon oneself extra study during those days.
All to often in life, time takes it own course and slips away beneath our feet or as the clock ticks away. What I find so beautiful about the Counting of the Omer is the reminder that it provides that each day matters, each moment in time is there only once, and our job is to empower that moment, fill it with meaning and live a life where each moment of time matters.
For the record today marks the 13th day of the Omer. To read more about the Counting of the Omer click here.