Mentsch Tracht und Gott Lacht*

*Man plans and God laughs, a Yiddish expression (one of my personal favorites, along with He should grow like an onion with its head in the ground (Er zol vaksn vi a tsibele mit dem kop in drerd) )

What a perfect expression with which to begin Blog Elul. I had it all planned...I was going to write a bunch of posts, I was going to be all prepared, I was ready to Blog Elul.

And yet I didn't. And here it is, on the morning of Rosh Chodesh Elul, and me...with no Blog Elul posts even begun. Oy vey.

But that just goes to show...sometimes, we can plan all we want, and God has other plans. Sometimes, we feel like we are in control....and we realize that control just isn't in the cards. I've certainly learned that in parenting my children. So why do I find it so hard to believe in the rest of life?

Elul is a time for inspiration, for introspection, for human failings to come to the surface and be examined. Elul is a time to look deeply at the way in which our actions impact others and ourselves. Elul is a time to consider and reflect, remember and recount. Elul is a time to think about the plans we've made and the laughter we've heard, however faintly, when those plans went awry.

And so I begin. Welcome to Elul. May this month bring all that you hope for and all that you need.

While you're reading my blog, feel free to check out some of the other people who are blogging Elul, like Amy, the Homeshuler. Are you blogging Elul? Leave me a comment with a link, and I'll share your post too!

Also, don't forget to sign up for your Jewels of Elul, a daily email blast with words of wisdom each day.

Plus, I think (hope?) that people will tag their posts on twitter with #BlogElul, so follow me there for retweets and other fun Elul (and not Elul) related tweets.