Quality Not Quantity

During Birchat Hachodesh today in shul I thought of a dvar Torah that I heard a couple of years ago. So, in blessing the upcoming month we ask all sorts of things of the month: we ask for lives of peace, happiness, etc. And then there's this really weird passage where we ask for long lives. Now remember, we're asking for this all within the context of the month. So, it makes sense to ask for happiness for the month, but a month is only 30 days (give or take a few) no matter what. You can't ask for longevity within the context of 30 days, it doesn't really make sense.

The answer I heard was that you're asking for the quality of those days not the quantity. True, there are only going to be x days in the upcoming month, but what you do with those days and how you do it and what they become truly gives value to those days. And it's that value that makes them "long." There may only be 30 days, but what you do with them entails what they're really worth.

Wishing y'all a long month. In a good way.