Blessing for the Letters

Yesterday morning I was working out on my elliptical machine when I felt tiny arms hug me. Startled, I looked back and saw my cat, Little Bear, standing on his hind lets on the cover over the back wheel and hugging me. Awwww. I love my cats and dog. They are all so lovable and interesting.

Life to the Brim

Yikes! How quickly time passes! I have not written since April 1. Life has been filled to the brim during that time.

According to Our Faith

A couple of weeks ago we had unseasonably warm weather with temperatures near 80 degrees. It was really nice. I enjoyed taking my laptop to the patio table on our front porch to study Hebrew. Last week it was back to cooler temperatures, rain, and sweatshirts and jackets. I see that the temperatures are going to creep up to warmer temperatures this next week. That is the reality of Spring in Michigan: wildly changing weather.

Writer’s Block

I have writer’s block.

I don’t have writer’s block because I don’t have enough to write about. I have writer’s block because I have too much to write about, and I don’t know how to write it.

Eye – Ayin

Since I’ve been writing about eyes and sight lately, I thought I’d share the Hebrew word for eye, which is עין (pronounced AH-yeen).

Matthew 6:22-23 literally reads: “The lamp of the body is the eye. If your eye is good, your whole body is full of light; but if your eye is evil your whole body is full of darkness…”

“If your eye is good” is a Hebrew saying that means, “if you are generous.” If a “good eye” speaks to generosity, what is an evil eye? Someone not knowing the Jewish background might suppose it is speaking of casting spells. But in Hebrew culture, having an “evil eye,” means being stingy – just like having a “good eye,” means being generous. Yeshua (Jesus) is warning against lack of generosity and nothing else. This fits the context perfectly: “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also….You cannot serve both God and money.”

 

K.D. and Mr. Spock

When I was about 9 or 10, my sister woke me up one morning to tell me that our brother had brought home a little black puppy. I didn’t believe her because it was April Fool’s Day. Yeah, right. I wasn’t born yesterday. But she wasn’t fooling. Our brother had really brought home a little black puppy. He raised homing pigeons that he raced, and apparently someone at a race had had a champion schnauzer that had had puppies with a traveling poodle (stray). The guy was so disgusted that he gave away the puppies, and my brother brought one home.

Rabbi Jesus

Saturday I didn’t get to sleep until about 3 a.m. Last night, I didn’t sleep all that well either. EJ didn’t feel well–he thinks his pain meds were affecting him. JJ said he hardly sleep all night. We were all very tired this morning. EJ feel asleep in his chair this morning, and as soon as school was over, JJ and I took naps too.

Crown of Messiah

We study the Scriptures together as a family. We follow the Jewish Scripture reading schedule. Ezra (the one in the Bible) set up this reading schedule, and Jews have been following it ever since–including Jesus. For the past few years, we’ve been using the Hebrew for Christian book, A Year Through the Torah. You can buy a hard copy of the book or access it on line for free by clicking This Week’s Torah Reading in the sidebar at the left. The teaching is tremendous, and we have learned so much through it.

The People in the Old Picture

See this picture?

Shalom, Shalom

I’m sitting here trying to decide whether or not to take my dog Danny for his daily walk. He looks forward to his walk so much that I hate to disappoint him. It was misting, and I don’t mind walking in mist, but the mist is turning to a heavier–but not heavy–rain. I do not want to walk in heavy rain. I checked the weather radar and the rain will soon turn to snow. If it’s still early enough, I might take Danny when the rain turns to snow.