Written on Sabbath 2/15/14
9 am
Today's torah portion (Ki Tissa) includes these verses in Exodus 31:12-18
And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily My sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations: that ye may know that I am the LORD that doth sanctify you. Ye shall keep the sabbath therefore; for it is holy unto you: every one that defileth it shall surely be put to death: for whosoever doeth any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. Six days may work be done; but in the seventh is the sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD: whosoever doeth any work in the sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death. Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day He rested, and was refreshed. And He gave unto Moses, when He had made an end of communing with him on Mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God.
I'm feeling very much alone in my convictions these days. I don't have anyone in my circle of friends/family who regularly communicate with me who believes in Six Day Creationism and proves it by keeping the Sabbath day holy. It is troubling to learn that my grandchildren have been swayed to the Evolution camp. It is troubling that my friend who now calls himself a brother still does not believe in Six Day, Young Earth Creationism, but believes in a novel interpretation of Genesis 1 expounded by John Walton and others. He also has not found it possible in his life situation to keep Shabbat. It is troubling that ffoz gives him cover for trampling the Sabbath with its "Optional for Gentiles" Sabbath stance. Sometimes I feel like forsaking facebook altogether; it is such a grief. It has become easy to eschew it on Shabbat. I don't miss it at all; a welcome respite.
I have been listening to Yair Davidiy via youtube lately concerning the Lost Tribes. I heard of him years ago through Chris Josephson (Bible Light) and wanted to read The Tribes, but it was out of print at the time. My interest in this topic is renewed, so I may read this book and study the topic more in depth. I also heard this week about a legendary river called Sambatiyon that is rather fascinating. Both Yair Davidiy and a Rabbi named Eliyahu Kin talked about it from different perspectives on their youtube channels. I have been convinced for many years that I am an Israelite, and consider myself Jewish in my affiliation. It is a lonely journey for this "ugly duckling", and I have yet to land in a welcoming Hebraic "swan pond."
I have become interested in bird watching lately. We filled our feeders and attracted chickadees, sparrows, red headed woodpeckers, blue jays, cardinals, tufted titmouse (titmice?) so far. The goldfinches have not yet returned to the niger seed feeder at my kitchen window.
Last Sunday I drove to Potato Creek State Park and traversed Trail 4 on my snowshoes. It was very quiet and serene in the woods. I was not cold unless I stopped moving. I wore snow pants so I did not get snow in my boots. The trail had been blazed by others so it was not too taxing. It was a good workout though. It took me an hour and a half to make the two and a half mile circuit. I saw two other snowshoers and encountered one young male hiker in boots who said hello. People on trails are very helpful and friendly in my experience so far. One older snowshoer guy struck up a conversation with me as he rested on a park bench on the trail and gave me some snowshoeing tips. He planned to be out on the trails until sunset, including Vargo Hill. My Trail 4 trek was enough for me. I was tired afterwards. I drove to the Nature Center and may have seen a snowy owl flying low on the trail that leads to the mountain bike trail. Snowy Owls have been spotted all over northern Indiana and Michigan this winter. Do they think this is the Arctic? I can understand their confusion. The snow depth is at least two feet this year. If it melts too fast we could have flooding. There were a few sledders and snowboarders on the sledding hill, and it looked like people had been on Trail 1 with cross country skis near the Nature Center (which was closed). I may try cross country skiing next year.
I only had one "down day" this week. Tuesday I had to go home early from work and sleep the rest of the day. I have not taken what I consider "toxic medicine" (Tylenol, etc.) for at least a year now. If I'm sick all I can do is take colloidal silver and sleep. Epsom (magnesium) baths once a week are helpful, along with B complex vitamins, occasional half Iodoral tabs, daily Sea Aloe in my breakfast juice, and the best remedy, exercise. This severe winter weather has impacted my fitness activities quite a bit. Rowing Class has been suspended due to the frigid mornings, and I haven't been running with the group since the class moved to Tuesdays this month. Nobody seems interested in winter hiking in this weather, so yesterday I walked to the horse barn and visited each horse individually in their stalls and picked out a few favorites. I think Jonkers and Thomas are my favorite Friesians. Buster and Frosty are two thoroughbred types I would consider riding. I did not see my old pal Jackson. I wonder if he is out to pasture or gone altogether. I wonder if I will ever actually ride a nice Thoroughbred or Friesian at Culver. I need to be ready for the opportunity if it comes. I need to work with my own horses, get Martha trained, get someone to help me (Culver instructor that is small?), ride Misty regularly, get the barn and tack in some semblance of good order for visitors, and get myself fit. I need more stamina. I only have so much energy, and when it is gone I am done for the day.
The sun is shining this Sabbath morning. I saw the beautiful full silvery moon in the western sky before sunrise. Time for breakfast and turning out the horses in the woods. Later I'll walk the dog in the woods on my snowshoes and hopefully this afternoon Pat and I will go for a Sabbath day's journey to the Nature Center at Potato Creek State Park and check out the birds at the feeders and in the park. I bought the annual pass last Sunday. Maybe Pat and I could enjoy bird watching as a hobby together. Maybe he could do some nature photography while I hike the trails. It would be nice if we could find a common interest. Maybe we'll go late in the afternoon and see the sunset! Nice way to close out the Sabbath.
Update - Sunday morning 2/16.....
Well, Sabbath afternoon did not go as planned. "Sudden Sick Syndrome" came upon me and I slept most of the day. It is very frustrating not to know why this happens or when it will happen. I feel fine one minute and "sick" the next. I cannot figure out what triggers it. It seems as if my body has to detox from time to time. I'm going to try abstaining from all foods that might possibly be toxic to me for one week and see what happens. There was nothing I ate yesterday that should have affected me. I'll keep a food diary.
Overnight I listened to Rabbi Eliyahu Kin's youtube teachings on Evolution and Creation. It was good to hear a Jewish perspective similar to mine.
I stayed off of facebook yesterday and did not miss it at all. Even after Sabbath ended I chose not to go there. I finally checked it out after midnight when I woke up. Denise posted about hiking in San Antonio. Good for her!
2/16/2014
2/08/2014
Excerpts from The Sabbath (Abraham Joshua Heschel)
Shabbat
8 Adar
2/8/14
Today I abstained from Facebook and attempted to sanctify the Sabbath, to keep it holy. "Be ye holy, for I am holy," saith the LORD, in today's Bible reading (Leviticus 19:2) and also in 1 Peter 1:16. I felt like I should take the "no commerce on Sabbath" prohibition to its logical extension -- no commercial advertising, thus viewing no web page that contains this distraction, including Facebook.
Facebook is an electronic "town square" where dialogue and news of the day takes place, but it is also a venue for commerce, increasingly so to my dismay. It is also a place of profound grief sometimes, a place to become aware that friends and loved ones are trampling the Sabbath underfoot as they shop and go about their worldly pursuits, disregarding the holiness of the day. This is the LORD's Day! -- a day to rejoice and be glad, the day He refers to repeatedly throughout Scripture as "My holy day"!!!
By 9 am, after reading my chapters and the Torah portion (Tetzaveh) in my beloved KJV (where I encounter the LORD in a manner that just does not happen when I read other versions of the Bible) I began to experience the sanctity of Sabbath, especially while reading and underlining portions of the wise words of Abraham Joshua Heschel. I finished reading his wonderful book, The Sabbath, about 11 am and then went for a 20 minute snowshoe walk in the woods to meditate on what I had read. Soft snowflakes descended from "a grey snow sky, the gift of Adonai." Winter is truly a wonder this year. Did I ever blog the lyrics to this song I wrote to Yanni's music years ago?
Snowshoeing, by the way, is a great cardiovascular activity and a great way to experience the winter scenery. There must be two feet of snow in our woods, so this is the best way to traverse the trails. Next year maybe I'll try cross country skiing once I master maneuvering in these. It is quite easy actually. It is just walking, with poles for additional support and balance. I thoroughly enjoy this activity. The energy expended and metabolism boost prevents me from feeling cold. I do need gaiters though to keep the snow out of my boots. I tried snowshoeing at Culver yesterday along the lake shore, breaking trail from the motel to the Library in spectacular sunshine, blue sky, 13 below zero wind chill weather. Other than one ear getting wind blasted, I stayed warm. I should have double-hatted it, or put up my hood. My Buff was transformed from face mask to emergency ear warmer. My left ear turned red and hot as my blood supply came to my rescue and saved me from frostbite. Lessons are being learned before I venture out on a longer trek on Trail 4 at Potato Creek State Park, hopefully tomorrow afternoon.
Today's Sabbath journaling will consist of passages I marked, underlined, and especially liked in this little book by Heschel:
"The duty to work for six days is just as much a part of God's covenant with man as the duty to abstain from work on the seventh day." (p. 28)
"The seventh day is the armistice in man's cruel struggle for existence, a truce in all conflicts, personal and social, peace between man and man; a day on which handling money is considered a desecration, on which man avows his independence of that which is the world's chief idol. The seventh day is the exodus from tension, the liberation of man from his own muddiness, the installation of man as a sovereign in the world of time. In the tempestuous ocean of time and toil there are islands of stillness where man may enter a harbor and reclaim his dignity. The island is the seventh day, the Sabbath....." (p. 29) [my thought: I wonder if the prohibition against kindling a fire on the Sabbath day refers to staying out of arguments and eschewing discord! Maybe it is a word picture, a metaphor for conflict.]
"The Sabbath is no time for personal anxiety or care, for any activity that might dampen the spirit of joy." (p. 30)
"The idea that a seventh part of our lives may be experienced as paradise is a scandal to the pagans and a revelation to the Jews....the Sabbath is the fountainhead (ma'yan) of eternity......Unless one learns how to relish the taste of Sabbath while still in this world, unless one is initiated in the appreciation of eternal life, one will be unable to enjoy the taste of eternity in the world to come....Eternal life does not grow away from us; it is "planted within us" growing beyond us....The essence of the world to come is Sabbath eternal, and the seventh day in time is an example of eternity. (p.74)
"There is much that philosophy could learn from the Bible. To the philosopher the idea of the good is the most exalted idea. But to the Bible the idea of the good is penultimate; it cannot exist without the holy. The good is the base, the holy is the summit. Things created in six days He considered good, the seventh day He made holy.....The law of the Sabbath tries to direct the body and the mind to the dimension of the holy. It tries to teach us that man stands not only in a relation to nature but in a relation also to the creator of nature. What is the Sabbath? Spirit in the form of time. With our bodies we belong to space; our spirit, our souls, soar to eternity, aspire to the holy. The Sabbath is an ascent to the summit. It gives us the opportunity to sactify time, to raise the good to the level of the holy, to behold the holy by abstaining from profanity." (p. 75)
"We usually think that the earth is our mother, that time is money and profit our mate. The seventh day is a reminder that God is our father, that time is life and the spirit our mate." (p. 76)
"All sages agree, we are told in the Talmud, that the first feast of weeks on which the Torah was given fell on the Sabbath. Indeed, it is the only day on which the word of God could have been given to man." (p. 82)
"According to an ancient legend, the light created at the very beginning of creation was not the same as the light emitted by the sun, the moon, and the stars. The light of the first day was of a sort that would have enabled man to see the world at a glance from one end to the other. Since man was unworthy to enjoy the blessing of such light, God concealed it; but in the world to come it will appear to the pious in all its pristine glory. Something of that light rests upon saints and men of righteous deeds on the seventh day, and that light is called the additional soul." (p. 88) [my thought: YESHUA is that Light!]
"All our life should be a pilgrimage to the seventh day; the thought and appreciation of what this day may bring to us should be ever present in our minds. For the Sabbath is the counterpoint of living; the melody sustained throughout all agitations and vicissitudes which menace our conscience; our awareness of God's presence in the world." (p. 89)
"Nothing is as hard to suppress as the will to be a slave to one's own pettiness. Gallantly, ceaselessly, quietly, man must fight for inner liberty. Inner liberty depends upon being exempt from domination of things as well as from domination of people." (p. 89)
"In a moment of eternity, while the taste of redemption was still fresh to the former slaves, the people of Israel were given the Ten Words, the Ten Commandments. In its beginning and end, the Decalogue deals with the liberty of man. The first Word--I am the LORD thy God, who brought thee out of the Land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage--reminds him that his outer liberty was given to him by God, and the tenth Word--Thou shalt not covet! reminds him that he himself must achieve his inner liberty." (p. 90)
"In ancient literature, emphasis is expressed through direct repetition (epizeuxis), by repeating a word without any intervening words." (p. 90)
"The Torah, whenever we study it, must be to us "as if it were given us today." The same applies to the day of the exodus from Egypt: "In every age man must see himself as if he himself went out of Egypt." (p. 98)
"An instant of returning to God may restore what has been lost in years of escaping from Him" (p. 98)
8 Adar
2/8/14
Today I abstained from Facebook and attempted to sanctify the Sabbath, to keep it holy. "Be ye holy, for I am holy," saith the LORD, in today's Bible reading (Leviticus 19:2) and also in 1 Peter 1:16. I felt like I should take the "no commerce on Sabbath" prohibition to its logical extension -- no commercial advertising, thus viewing no web page that contains this distraction, including Facebook.
Facebook is an electronic "town square" where dialogue and news of the day takes place, but it is also a venue for commerce, increasingly so to my dismay. It is also a place of profound grief sometimes, a place to become aware that friends and loved ones are trampling the Sabbath underfoot as they shop and go about their worldly pursuits, disregarding the holiness of the day. This is the LORD's Day! -- a day to rejoice and be glad, the day He refers to repeatedly throughout Scripture as "My holy day"!!!
By 9 am, after reading my chapters and the Torah portion (Tetzaveh) in my beloved KJV (where I encounter the LORD in a manner that just does not happen when I read other versions of the Bible) I began to experience the sanctity of Sabbath, especially while reading and underlining portions of the wise words of Abraham Joshua Heschel. I finished reading his wonderful book, The Sabbath, about 11 am and then went for a 20 minute snowshoe walk in the woods to meditate on what I had read. Soft snowflakes descended from "a grey snow sky, the gift of Adonai." Winter is truly a wonder this year. Did I ever blog the lyrics to this song I wrote to Yanni's music years ago?
Snowshoeing, by the way, is a great cardiovascular activity and a great way to experience the winter scenery. There must be two feet of snow in our woods, so this is the best way to traverse the trails. Next year maybe I'll try cross country skiing once I master maneuvering in these. It is quite easy actually. It is just walking, with poles for additional support and balance. I thoroughly enjoy this activity. The energy expended and metabolism boost prevents me from feeling cold. I do need gaiters though to keep the snow out of my boots. I tried snowshoeing at Culver yesterday along the lake shore, breaking trail from the motel to the Library in spectacular sunshine, blue sky, 13 below zero wind chill weather. Other than one ear getting wind blasted, I stayed warm. I should have double-hatted it, or put up my hood. My Buff was transformed from face mask to emergency ear warmer. My left ear turned red and hot as my blood supply came to my rescue and saved me from frostbite. Lessons are being learned before I venture out on a longer trek on Trail 4 at Potato Creek State Park, hopefully tomorrow afternoon.
Today's Sabbath journaling will consist of passages I marked, underlined, and especially liked in this little book by Heschel:
"The duty to work for six days is just as much a part of God's covenant with man as the duty to abstain from work on the seventh day." (p. 28)
"The seventh day is the armistice in man's cruel struggle for existence, a truce in all conflicts, personal and social, peace between man and man; a day on which handling money is considered a desecration, on which man avows his independence of that which is the world's chief idol. The seventh day is the exodus from tension, the liberation of man from his own muddiness, the installation of man as a sovereign in the world of time. In the tempestuous ocean of time and toil there are islands of stillness where man may enter a harbor and reclaim his dignity. The island is the seventh day, the Sabbath....." (p. 29) [my thought: I wonder if the prohibition against kindling a fire on the Sabbath day refers to staying out of arguments and eschewing discord! Maybe it is a word picture, a metaphor for conflict.]
"The Sabbath is no time for personal anxiety or care, for any activity that might dampen the spirit of joy." (p. 30)
"The idea that a seventh part of our lives may be experienced as paradise is a scandal to the pagans and a revelation to the Jews....the Sabbath is the fountainhead (ma'yan) of eternity......Unless one learns how to relish the taste of Sabbath while still in this world, unless one is initiated in the appreciation of eternal life, one will be unable to enjoy the taste of eternity in the world to come....Eternal life does not grow away from us; it is "planted within us" growing beyond us....The essence of the world to come is Sabbath eternal, and the seventh day in time is an example of eternity. (p.74)
"There is much that philosophy could learn from the Bible. To the philosopher the idea of the good is the most exalted idea. But to the Bible the idea of the good is penultimate; it cannot exist without the holy. The good is the base, the holy is the summit. Things created in six days He considered good, the seventh day He made holy.....The law of the Sabbath tries to direct the body and the mind to the dimension of the holy. It tries to teach us that man stands not only in a relation to nature but in a relation also to the creator of nature. What is the Sabbath? Spirit in the form of time. With our bodies we belong to space; our spirit, our souls, soar to eternity, aspire to the holy. The Sabbath is an ascent to the summit. It gives us the opportunity to sactify time, to raise the good to the level of the holy, to behold the holy by abstaining from profanity." (p. 75)
"We usually think that the earth is our mother, that time is money and profit our mate. The seventh day is a reminder that God is our father, that time is life and the spirit our mate." (p. 76)
"All sages agree, we are told in the Talmud, that the first feast of weeks on which the Torah was given fell on the Sabbath. Indeed, it is the only day on which the word of God could have been given to man." (p. 82)
"According to an ancient legend, the light created at the very beginning of creation was not the same as the light emitted by the sun, the moon, and the stars. The light of the first day was of a sort that would have enabled man to see the world at a glance from one end to the other. Since man was unworthy to enjoy the blessing of such light, God concealed it; but in the world to come it will appear to the pious in all its pristine glory. Something of that light rests upon saints and men of righteous deeds on the seventh day, and that light is called the additional soul." (p. 88) [my thought: YESHUA is that Light!]
"All our life should be a pilgrimage to the seventh day; the thought and appreciation of what this day may bring to us should be ever present in our minds. For the Sabbath is the counterpoint of living; the melody sustained throughout all agitations and vicissitudes which menace our conscience; our awareness of God's presence in the world." (p. 89)
"Nothing is as hard to suppress as the will to be a slave to one's own pettiness. Gallantly, ceaselessly, quietly, man must fight for inner liberty. Inner liberty depends upon being exempt from domination of things as well as from domination of people." (p. 89)
"In a moment of eternity, while the taste of redemption was still fresh to the former slaves, the people of Israel were given the Ten Words, the Ten Commandments. In its beginning and end, the Decalogue deals with the liberty of man. The first Word--I am the LORD thy God, who brought thee out of the Land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage--reminds him that his outer liberty was given to him by God, and the tenth Word--Thou shalt not covet! reminds him that he himself must achieve his inner liberty." (p. 90)
"In ancient literature, emphasis is expressed through direct repetition (epizeuxis), by repeating a word without any intervening words." (p. 90)
"The Torah, whenever we study it, must be to us "as if it were given us today." The same applies to the day of the exodus from Egypt: "In every age man must see himself as if he himself went out of Egypt." (p. 98)
"An instant of returning to God may restore what has been lost in years of escaping from Him" (p. 98)
2/01/2014
Joy in the Journaling
Adar 1
Shabbat
2/1/14 7 am
Thank you, LORD, for bringing healing yesterday and last night. Strength and health are restored, physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.
It's a new month, a new chapter. I need to write my thoughts on my blog each Shabbat. John wrote on the Isle of Patmos on Shabbat, the LORD's Day (Revelation 1:9). The Bible always refers to Sabbath as the LORD's day (Genesis 2:3; Exodus 16:23; 20, 31, 35, Lev. 23, Deut. 5, Isaiah 58:13, Ezek. 20, Luke 6:5, etc.) The "Church" very early went astray and deviated from Torah, the instructions of God. Nowhere in Scripture is there any indication that the LORD's day changed to Sunday. Anyway, I have no problem with writing on Sabbath, though others may.
Thank you, LORD, for Joel Allen (Messianic Family Fellowship, NY) for podcasts that helped turn the tide for me last night. His views were similar to mine, his sermon was edifying and reassuring (Terumah 2/16/13) and he used lots of Scripture from the KJV. I miss the KJV. I am going back to reading it today. The Complete Jewish Bible (David Stern) can be a reference, but my primary Bible needs to be the KJV. I treasure the lofty, poetic language and the overall accuracy. There is no better English version. I sense Your leading back to "the old paths" (Jeremiah 6:16). I sense I am back on Your path and out of the tangled thicket I've been in for quite some time. December and January have been rough, spiritually, physically, emotionally....not to mention the frigid weather, which has been like a Judgement on America, a plague, tribulation.
In contrast, the snow today looks peaceful, beautiful, inviting. I hope to play in it today...on my snowshoes, which I enjoy. I hope to get to Potato Creek State Park sometime this month for a snowy trail trek. So far, I've only tried it twice in my backyard/woods.
I have not been running, rowing, or even walking much this winter due to the severity of the weather and my "often infirmities." I hope that is all about to change.
I pray my paddleboards survive the weather being still outside against the Linden dorm wall. Winter came on strong without warning, and I did not get to take them home. I had hoped to paddleboard in November with Denise, but instead of turning warm, it turned very cold. It has been a long, bleak, difficult winter. Is there a message in it? Thank you for keeping us safe through it all.
Daily Bible Reading - Leviticus 1-3 (kidneys, liver)
I pray LORD, heal my kidneys, liver, whatever internal needs complete healing. Refuah Shleimah!
Torah Portion - Terumah (Exodus 25:1-27:19)
Update 4 pm: I did go snowshoeing in the woods this morning with Allie. It was a winter wonderland with snow falling softly all around us. The snow was up to Allie's belly. She got tired and followed my snowshoe tracks after a while. We only went one time around the trail, about a quarter mile, but I had to stop several times due to exhaustion. I wonder if I am getting over a respiratory virus. I feel fine today other than my limited endurance. I did not go to work yesterday because I felt so horrible. At one point my temperature was 95.4. It's back up to about 97 today. I can't even get to 98.6 at my age! The 97 range has been "normal" for me for a few years at least. I can't seem to burn off any chronic viruses that might be indwelling me and wreaking havoc from time to time. Fatigue is still an issue. But I don't trust modern medicine, so I must rely on the LORD for guidance and healing...and I do.
I have been thinking about all the "burst bubbles" and understand now that reality does not burst like a bubble, only fantasies. What is real remains. What is fake, deceiving, pretentious can and does go "poof." Rather than lament the loss and wallow in disillusionment, I should rejoice in the truth. The truth sets us free. The tares are not worth the tears.
Shabbat
2/1/14 7 am
Thank you, LORD, for bringing healing yesterday and last night. Strength and health are restored, physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.
It's a new month, a new chapter. I need to write my thoughts on my blog each Shabbat. John wrote on the Isle of Patmos on Shabbat, the LORD's Day (Revelation 1:9). The Bible always refers to Sabbath as the LORD's day (Genesis 2:3; Exodus 16:23; 20, 31, 35, Lev. 23, Deut. 5, Isaiah 58:13, Ezek. 20, Luke 6:5, etc.) The "Church" very early went astray and deviated from Torah, the instructions of God. Nowhere in Scripture is there any indication that the LORD's day changed to Sunday. Anyway, I have no problem with writing on Sabbath, though others may.
Thank you, LORD, for Joel Allen (Messianic Family Fellowship, NY) for podcasts that helped turn the tide for me last night. His views were similar to mine, his sermon was edifying and reassuring (Terumah 2/16/13) and he used lots of Scripture from the KJV. I miss the KJV. I am going back to reading it today. The Complete Jewish Bible (David Stern) can be a reference, but my primary Bible needs to be the KJV. I treasure the lofty, poetic language and the overall accuracy. There is no better English version. I sense Your leading back to "the old paths" (Jeremiah 6:16). I sense I am back on Your path and out of the tangled thicket I've been in for quite some time. December and January have been rough, spiritually, physically, emotionally....not to mention the frigid weather, which has been like a Judgement on America, a plague, tribulation.
In contrast, the snow today looks peaceful, beautiful, inviting. I hope to play in it today...on my snowshoes, which I enjoy. I hope to get to Potato Creek State Park sometime this month for a snowy trail trek. So far, I've only tried it twice in my backyard/woods.
I have not been running, rowing, or even walking much this winter due to the severity of the weather and my "often infirmities." I hope that is all about to change.
I pray my paddleboards survive the weather being still outside against the Linden dorm wall. Winter came on strong without warning, and I did not get to take them home. I had hoped to paddleboard in November with Denise, but instead of turning warm, it turned very cold. It has been a long, bleak, difficult winter. Is there a message in it? Thank you for keeping us safe through it all.
Daily Bible Reading - Leviticus 1-3 (kidneys, liver)
I pray LORD, heal my kidneys, liver, whatever internal needs complete healing. Refuah Shleimah!
Torah Portion - Terumah (Exodus 25:1-27:19)
Update 4 pm: I did go snowshoeing in the woods this morning with Allie. It was a winter wonderland with snow falling softly all around us. The snow was up to Allie's belly. She got tired and followed my snowshoe tracks after a while. We only went one time around the trail, about a quarter mile, but I had to stop several times due to exhaustion. I wonder if I am getting over a respiratory virus. I feel fine today other than my limited endurance. I did not go to work yesterday because I felt so horrible. At one point my temperature was 95.4. It's back up to about 97 today. I can't even get to 98.6 at my age! The 97 range has been "normal" for me for a few years at least. I can't seem to burn off any chronic viruses that might be indwelling me and wreaking havoc from time to time. Fatigue is still an issue. But I don't trust modern medicine, so I must rely on the LORD for guidance and healing...and I do.
I have been thinking about all the "burst bubbles" and understand now that reality does not burst like a bubble, only fantasies. What is real remains. What is fake, deceiving, pretentious can and does go "poof." Rather than lament the loss and wallow in disillusionment, I should rejoice in the truth. The truth sets us free. The tares are not worth the tears.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)