Careful Wishing

There's and old adage that states, "be careful what you wish for". Growing older, I'm more in contact with that adage now than I ever have been in the past. Raising children in this current age is fraught with issues that I appear to be contantly having to evolve against. Technology driven problems and concerns coupled with a post-secular or post-modern worldview of my children makes me wish for the time before machines and technology ruled the U.S; before "reality T.V." took over the airwaves; before the world was so hateful and violent. Reality brings me back to the wonderful boon that technology often is. Finding the balance between risk and burden is always a complex and aggravating task. On the one hand I can talk Skype-to-Skype (face-to-face) with anyone around the world at no cost. I can share thoughts and dreams (as I'm doing now) to anyone who can access this blog via the internet and world wide web. Hackers can penetrate the firewall and steal my personal data and wipe out my bank acocunts and ruin my credit history in the blink of an eye. Constant vigilance is the watchword of this age...but hasn't it always been? Wishing for a different time and place is a passive and unhelpful escapism. Spiritually, I'm in a better place than ever though often it feels like I'm in exile. Exile is not a bad place as the Israelites found in Babylon - Babylon had it's wonders. The idol worship that had lead to their downfall was replaced in the remnant with a renewed focus on G-d and G-d's promises to them as a chosen people. Fifty years of capitivy pass and they are released to go and rebuild Jerusalem and the Temple. That starts a period of approximately 600 years of promise before radicals arouse the wrath of Rome and the Temple is destroyed around 70 C.E. Perhaps my time of exile will bring with it the seeds of a rebuilding - that is something to wish for. This week in the post-Easter and post-Passover time, what is your careful wish? Write it down and put it somewhere that you will find it again in a year or so. It will be a good opportunity to reflect on whether the wish was careful or pie-in-the-sky. Peace for your journey, Dan