Merry Christmas & Blessed New Year!

Merry Christmas to all those who have followed this blog! Thank you for sticking around and putting up with my rambling posts. I hope my words encouraged you, enlightened you, made you smile, or comforted you. 

I don't post often because posts to this blog are different. I never know what I'll write about because I try to let my heart speak or let the Spirit speak through my heart. Sometimes the words were for me alone. Others, they were for someone else. I hope they found their home. 

Does anyone feel that we're watching the last grains of sand slip through the narrow opening of the glass? Time is running out so quickly. This year is almost over and I don't know anyone who would say it's been a good year. I pray the Lord blesses the coming year for us all, but I believe we're living in a time of rising evil. My view is that this is the devil's final onslaught before the end. We're being bombarded with every form of wickedness he can throw at us. The minds and actions of people are twisted and depraved beyond my wildest imaginings. 

When I pray these days, I find I'm praying for protection over those I pray for and for a purging of wicked people. That sounds awful, doesn't it? However, I believe God has offered us all an opportunity to choose who we will serve. If they will not heed His voice, then they are part of the problem we face. We are in the fight of our lives and the battle is with unseen forces. 

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Ephesians 6:12.

Do not let the old year pass before you take a stand for righteousness. I believe we will be forced to pick sides in this thing. If you have not already, you will. Choose wisely. This may be the last major decision of your life. 

May the blessings of God fill your hearts and homes, may His protection surround you, may His hand guide you, and may his peace comfort you.

Celebration -- Sep 23 - 30

This week begins the annual Jewish holiday of Sukkot, which sounds a lot like a Thanksgiving celebration that lasts a whole week. It is to celebrate a bountiful harvest but it also commemorates the time when the Hebrews wandered 40 years in the desert.

Unlike our Thanksgiving, during this week the Jews live in "booths". I've heard them called tents but after reading up on this holiday, I found that they're more like a roofed porch or awning with walls. The roof is supposed to be such that you can look up and see the night sky. I found that quite a nice idea since I love the night sky. Living in the city as I do now, I find there are times I would give anything to go back to my childhood home again where I can see the stars.

Apparently, this celebration is connected to harvest and its occurrence depended on when the harvest was finished, which as any farmer knows, can be variable. However, in Biblical times it was set for a specific time and date.

I found an interesting video on this holiday. I will leave a link to the website if you're interested in learning more about this holiday. https://reformjudaism.org/sukkot-customs-and-rituals

https://reformjudaism.org/jewish-holidays/sukkot

Rosh Hashana Reviewed

In May, I went through files of my college writing, mostly to decide what to keep and what to toss. I ran across my freshman English 101 journal. I hated that journal but that's another story.

The journal was mandatory and so a lot of it is drivel - and tediously boring - just to meet the requirement. Still, as with all writing, you run across some hidden gems. This post, in my opinion, is one such gem. I post it here as it was written but with editing. Believe me, it was necessary.

Rosh Hashanah

I spoke with the Rabbi from the local temple about Rosh Hashanah. I was surprised and impressed by what I learned.

Rosh Hashana means New Year. It is a celebration of the creation of the world and is celebrated In Temple by prayer and praising God for the creation. 

The holiday also marks the beginning of the Penitential Week. The week following Rosh Hashanah is spent in reflection of and repentance for the sins of the past year. This would be a time for prayer and good deeds.

In Israel, the holiday is celebrated for one day. In much of the rest of the world, it is celebrated for two days. The holiday ends at Yom Kipper. This is a day of fasting from sunset to sunset, and most of the time is spent in prayer for forgiveness for personal and community sins.

There is a story told about these two holidays. It is said that God writes in a book the names of those who are going to live and those who are going to die. The individual has the week to reflect and repent. After Yom Kipper, the book is closed and sealed until the next year. 

The two holidays are considered the high point of the spiritual year for Jews.
-- October 4, 1989

When Is Rosh Hashanah

This year Rosh Hashana begins at sunset on Sunday, September 9 and ends at sunset Monday, September 10. Yom Kipper begins the following week. 

Summing it Up

Rereading this journal entry, I'm again impressed by this holiday. I understand why it would be the high point of a spiritual journey. In fact, the whole process appeals to me for some reason. I'm a Christian and not Jewish. However, there is a spiritual component to this particular holiday that I feel a connection to that I like. 

Imagine this. What if the whole world took a day to praise God for the creation, which includes humanity, and the following week spent time to ask forgiveness for our personal sins and those of every community? Can you even grasp the impact that would have on the planet? The world would be turned upside down. 

Honestly, it isn't even about being Jewish or Christian. The whole thing feels primal to me as if it is ingrained in my DNA to praise God for the creation. I frequently find myself doing just that. I can be sitting in a park or my backyard, marveling at the beauty that surrounds me. I start thanking God for this magnificent planet and the blessing of it. I usually begin to feel that I'm unworthy of such a gift and ask God to forgive me and help me be a better steward of his creation. It seems natural to do this.

I haven't studied much about Jewish holidays in any real sense and I think the reason for my journal entry was the topic was probably suggested by the professor. I think Jewish holidays float on our calendar so I suspect the date varies year to year. I'm glad I did it and I'm glad I found it again.

The Last Day - Reviewed

I first wrote this on December 31, 2008, about three weeks before my husband died. In hindsight, it was almost prophetic. The world has become more like this that it was in 2008. I wish the darkness had passed by now and we were in a new day. We are not. Instead, we're still sitting there waiting for the darkness to pass. I fear many of us will not live to see that new day.

The Last Day

We finally reach it - our last day. Mankind had reached a nadir while above the sun is shining. On the horizon is darkness and one can only wonder what lies ahead for us all. Will we go on? Was there a better place waiting? Or would the crouching darkness devour our very souls? What will we do?

The last year has been one of radical change, chaos, and confusion. We'd weathered it but there were many wounded and many battle-scarred. Some had died on the field. Even the earth had been assaulted. The villages and towns that still stood were reeling under fiscal problems, energy crises, and joblessness. In many places, children cried for food while famine raged in the land. Wars among factions had only increased, their participants splintering skirmishes around the globe.

Terror had become a raging monster fed by a demonic mindset. Children had lain bleeding or dismembered in the streets, a sacrifice to a violent god filled with hatred and minds so twisted by their fables that they believe a lie and are damned themselves.

I scanned the horizon, looking for some sign, some rising star, some glimmer of hope. I saw none. We had obliterated hope along with faith. No one prayed anymore for peace and safety because there was no longer a God to pray to. Or if there was, He must remain hidden in case someone actually grasped His garments in desperation and began to believe in Him. Goodness was servant to selfishness. Mercy lay dying on the altar of intolerance, bigotry, and self-righteousness. No longer was there freedom to speak without fear. No longer could one assert a righteous indignation without fear of reprisal or accusations of religiousness. Death lurked around every corner waiting for a willing participant to utilize his tools.

I sat down on the rotting stump of an ancient oak. It had stood many centuries, growing tall, strong, and full. Its branches had sheltered many from storms, given shade to the weary travelers, and lifted up a multitude of downcast eyes. But long ago they'd begun to hew it down. It had taken a couple of generations to succeed but finally, they had chopped it down and burned the carcass. Only the stump remained, a slowly rotting reminder of a time when people actually believed in something good. When ideals, dreams, and hopes were allowed to flourish without dissension.

The sun was lower in the west now, near the time when the darkness would be complete. From the East, it had begun to crawl along the ground, reaching long probing fingers toward us. We stood and watched, making no effort to greet it and none to stop it. I knew that it would overtake us but some part of me continued to search along that dividing line between light and dark, as a thirsty animal searches for a watering hole. Still, I saw nothing but approaching darkness. The light behind me dimmed further as the power of that darkness began to overwhelm it.

Then, it came. One moment a fleeting glow suddenly shut out by overwhelming blackness the consistency of tar. My heart pounded so hard I knew others must hear but I couldn't see beyond my outstretched fingertips. I felt tears course down my cheeks and my stomach twisted in knots as I stood in a night deeper than any well I'd ever seen. I had no measure of how long it lasted because without the sun time didn't exist.

Just as the last flame of hope in my heart began to gutter like a candle in the wind, I raised my head and hands and strained my eyes to the void. Suddenly, from the farthest reaches of the heavens came a tiny flicker, so faint it would have been undetectable to the casual observer. But I was searching for that flicker and as I watched through blinding tears, it grew and expanded and blazed forth with gathering strength, until it broke through the darkness and glowed brightly -a single star in a vast expanse of nothingness. All around me I heard gasps as first one, and another and then, another star broke through until all the heavens were filled with brilliant starlight, their beams stretching to touch one another.

I looked at the horizon again and saw where the earth and sky formed a line and stars blinked along it the way diamonds do on a necklace. I turned back to my ancient stool for a seat to observe the wonder of it all. At the base of the stump, where gnarled roots snaked away and into the ground, a single green stalk now stood. Tender green leaves had unfurled during the long dark night and now began to reach to the lightening sky.

Then, it came, blazing from the east and banishing the darkness to the depths. A fresh breeze began to blow and dawn came with a chorus of songbirds. We were here.

Now, what will we do?