outside my window... the sun is coming up. The sky is that colour in between blue and gray as the sun hasn't quite reached it yet. As if to remind everyone that it is still in charge, the winter frost has left its mark on cars and grass and rooftops. Spring will win out in the end, melting the frost with no trace left behind. This war between ice crystals and UV rays will be played out every morning for a couple more weeks.
I'm listening to...my stomach rumble. I am eating breakfast now instead of a late morning snack as usual. It is hard to eat at 5:30 in the morning.
I'm wearing...a spring outfit. I am rebelling against the frost! Today I will don a long camouflage skirt, white t-shirt and an olive green camisole as well as olive green sandals...sandals...you heard me...sandals!
I'm pondering...this story
One Yom Kippur, the Ba'al Shem Tov was praying together with his students in a small Polish village. Through his spiritual vision, the Ba'al Shem Tov had detected that harsh heavenly judgments had been decreed against the Jewish people, and he and his students were trying with all the sincerity they could muster to cry out to G-d and implore Him to rescind these decrees and grant the Jews a year of blessing.
This deep feeling took hold of all the inhabitants of the village and everyone opened his heart in deep-felt prayer.
Among the inhabitants of the village was a simple shepherd boy. He did not know how to read; indeed, he could barely read the letters of the alef-beit, the Hebrew alphabet. As the intensity of feeling in the synagogue began to mount, he decided that he also wanted to pray. But he did not know how. He could not read the words of the prayer book or mimic the prayers of the other congregants. He opened the prayer book to the first page and began to recite the letters: alef, beit, veit - reading the entire alphabet. He then called out to G-d: "This is all I can do. G-d, You know how the prayers should be pronounced. Please, arrange the letters in the proper way."
This simple, genuine prayer resounded powerfully within the Heavenly court. G-d rescinded all the harsh decrees and granted the Jews blessing and good fortune.
The Rabbi paused for a moment to let the story impact his listeners. Suddenly a voice called out, "alef." And thousands of voices thundered back "alef." The voice continued: "beit," and the thousands responded "beit." They continued to pronounce every letter in the Hebrew alphabet. And then they began to file out of the synagogue.
They had recited their prayers.
God knows our heart, He knows what ails us, what our weaknesses are, what we need, far better than we know ourselves. Sometimes I lack the words, but God hears my utterances and knows their meaning, He can put them together in the right way.
One Yom Kippur, the Ba'al Shem Tov was praying together with his students in a small Polish village. Through his spiritual vision, the Ba'al Shem Tov had detected that harsh heavenly judgments had been decreed against the Jewish people, and he and his students were trying with all the sincerity they could muster to cry out to G-d and implore Him to rescind these decrees and grant the Jews a year of blessing.
This deep feeling took hold of all the inhabitants of the village and everyone opened his heart in deep-felt prayer.
Among the inhabitants of the village was a simple shepherd boy. He did not know how to read; indeed, he could barely read the letters of the alef-beit, the Hebrew alphabet. As the intensity of feeling in the synagogue began to mount, he decided that he also wanted to pray. But he did not know how. He could not read the words of the prayer book or mimic the prayers of the other congregants. He opened the prayer book to the first page and began to recite the letters: alef, beit, veit - reading the entire alphabet. He then called out to G-d: "This is all I can do. G-d, You know how the prayers should be pronounced. Please, arrange the letters in the proper way."
This simple, genuine prayer resounded powerfully within the Heavenly court. G-d rescinded all the harsh decrees and granted the Jews blessing and good fortune.
The Rabbi paused for a moment to let the story impact his listeners. Suddenly a voice called out, "alef." And thousands of voices thundered back "alef." The voice continued: "beit," and the thousands responded "beit." They continued to pronounce every letter in the Hebrew alphabet. And then they began to file out of the synagogue.
They had recited their prayers.
God knows our heart, He knows what ails us, what our weaknesses are, what we need, far better than we know ourselves. Sometimes I lack the words, but God hears my utterances and knows their meaning, He can put them together in the right way.
I am reading..."Basic Judaism" by Rabbi Milton Steinberg. Written in 1947, this book offers a well rounded overview of the faith of our Jesus, Y'Shua.
from the kitchen...Mexican buffet. Last night our friends came over and I had a spread on the table that was a serve-yourself dinner. Refried black beans, chips and a creamy salsa dip, soft tacos, tomatoes, cheese etc...quite yummy.
I am creating....a goody bag of Czech stuff for Dan's brother and sister-in-law who will be arriving here on April 1st. We are so excited to see them as well as their son, whom the girls are stoked to see. Do those of you who have visited us have ideas for what should go in the goody bag??
Our memory verse this week...
"But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been made near by the blood of Christ."
EPHESIANS 2:13
I am hoping...we will one day soon be able to visit our family and friends in America...sigh.
I am praying...for the strength to change. Lent is coming here, the time of Bright Sadness. A time to feel the heaviness of our human condition and long to be forever changed.
around the house...here in CZ houses are made differently. No sheetrock, drywall...only bricks and cement. Nailing into the walls to hang things is just not an option. This completely makes me mental. To hang a picture you need a hydraulic drill. So, instead, we buy these self sticky hooks and hope for the best. Sometimes they stick like a champ and sometimes they fall down right away. Other times they lurk and wait until you least expect it and then fling onto the floor. It seems this week the sticky hooks are trying an entirely new tactic. They have been laying in wait gathering strength in numbers. Banned together, they have been leaping off the walls a couple at a time, everyday this week. As a result, I have paintings laying all over the floor. A couple of nights ago, one hook hit the jackpot and self-ejected off the wall with the precision timing of a Navy SEAL, thus releasing its painting onto Rebekah's head who had been sitting innocently underneath.
one of my favourite things...studying the 10 commandments with the girls and looking forward to watching The 10 Commandments movie (the one with Charlton Heston). I believe my sister spent half her childhood draped in scarves saying "So let it be written. So let it be done!" (Mum, am I wrong?)
a few plans for the rest of the week...taking McDonald's to a visiting missionary here at Danny's work, a date with Danny on Thursday, prayer meeting on Friday, sunshiney weekend with the hope of working in the garden.
a picture thought...
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteSorry about removed comment - something went wrong - ;o)
ReplyDeleteYou are quite right - your sister made quite a good Nefretiri for a few years when she was a child - there were scarves everywhere -- she did a great impersonation of Anne Baxter waving a scarf out a window calling, "Moses! Moses!"