Saturday, March 29, 2014

Grace / the Law



1Jn 3:4 Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness, for sin is lawlessness.
1Jn 2:3 And by this we know that we have known Him, if we keep His commandments. 4 He who says, I have known Him, and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
The 4th commandment includes the weekly Saturday Sabbath, the Annual Holy Days found in Lev 23 and the Sabbatical year of Lev 25. Are you keeping these Holy or are you breaking the law and under the curses of that law found in Lev 26. Grace is not licence to sin. Grace is forgiveness once you have repented. Repent and learn the truths of the scriptures.
Joh 14:15 If you love Me, keep My commandments.
Joh 14:21 He who has My commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves Me. And he who loves Me shall be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will reveal Myself to him.
2Jn 1:6 And this is love, that we walk according to His commandments. This is the commandment, as you heard from the beginning, that you should walk in it

Thursday, March 27, 2014

Thankful Thursday #!


Thankful today for this beautiful great blue heron who posed so patiently for me.  He allowed me to take about a dozen shots before he flew away.  I think he was as interested in us as we were in him.

I'm also thankful for my sweet husband, who drives the van for me to take photos.  He is so patient when I say, "Stop!" or "Back up a little bit!"  We're a team!

What are you thankful for today?
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Spiritual Sunday


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Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Wisdom Wednesday #18 - Thankfulness



I've been thinking about thankfulness lately.  The Bible mentions it quite often.  Here are just a few examples:


Give thanks unto ADONAI, call upon His name, make known His deeds among the people.  (1 Chronicles 16:8)

O give thanks unto ADONAI; for He is good; for His mercy endures for ever. (1 Chronicles 16:34)


It is a good thing to give thanks unto ADONAI, and to sing praises unto Your name, O Most High.  (Psalm 92:1)

In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Yeshua the Messiah concerning you. (1 Thessalonians 5:18)

As one grows older, it becomes easy to focus on the negatives in life, especially as the body begins to age.  For that reason, I make a daily practice of writing down three things for which I am thankfulThis discipline starts my day off on the right foot because it puts my focus on all the blessings in my life.  

Here are my gratitudes for today:

1.  A husband who tells me he loves me every day...many times.
2.  The Holy Scriptures being so readily accessible to me. (I love BibleGateway.com)
3.   My grandson lives nearby and we get to see him often.

I have so many, many blessings and I don't want to be as one of those described in this verse:
 
 ..when they knew God, they glorified him not as G-d, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.  (Romans 1:21)

Because thankfulness is so important, I'm starting a weekly discipline here at Gail-Friends.  Every Thursday will be "Thankful Thursday" and I will share a photograph, drawing, painting or poem about something on my gratitude list for the previous week.  

I'd love to hear what you are thankful for today.
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P.S.  So sorry for my late posting.  I've been having computer issues, and it looks like a new one is in my future.  Praying for a good deal... 


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Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Wisdom Wednesday #17 - Morning Joy


I love mornings!  The rising of the sun and it's going down are my favorite times of day.  Unless you've learned to make a habit of rising early, you haven't experienced the joy that comes in the morning.  
Morning Glories growing near my patio

The Bible mentions mornings often, especially in the Psalms.  I think our Heavenly Father wants us to experience morning joys.

One of my favorites is Psalm 59:17

But as for me, I will sing of your strength; in the morning I will sing aloud of your grace. For you are my fortress, a refuge when I am in trouble.

I also love Psalm 5:4


Adonai, in the morning you will hear my voice; in the morning I lay my needs before you and wait expectantly.
I am blessed to have a patio that looks out on my backyard.  I love to sit out there with a cup of hot coffee for my quiet time with my Heavenly Father.  I draw near to Him and He draws near to me.  We have sweet fellowship in the stillness.  
Here is my quiet place.  Oops, looks like my happy little palm tree blew over last night.
I love to hear His tender voice as I listen to music of the morning.  The birds are waking up and visiting my feeders and drinking from the fountain and birdbaths.  
An early morning visitor - a red-winged blackbird

Mr. Squirrel sometimes visits in the morning.
I love the joys of morning:  the early sky, the bird song, the stillness, the colors of sunrise, but most of all His voice...and the promise that his mercies are new every day.  Oh, how I praise Him for that!

Sunday, March 16, 2014

Chag Purim Sameach!

Hamentaschen recipe HERE

Chag Purim Sameach - Happy Purim!  We are smack-dab in the middle of it, as we say down south!  Purim began at sundown last evening and continues through till sundown tonight. 

Purim is a time of fun, food and fellowship in our lives.  We read "the whole magilla" - the entire book of Esther and we remember the power of Adonai to save us in times of distress.  We also remember that, like Esther, we were born for such a time as this - to fulfill G-d's call on our lives.  You can learn about Purim here on my blog.  

Didn't my hamentaschen turn out beautifully?  I was very pleased with them this year.  I think I have the hang of using my thumbs to make the shape of Hamen's hat.  They're very easy to make with my recipe here

We did a Purim play at the synagogue and it was so much fun.  Some people dressed up and some just wore hats.  We used printed scripts and didn't rehearse (on purpose), so that added to the laughter.  Here's the cast:



Before the play started, we had a surprise visit from the oldest rabbi of Israel.  He was visiting the area, and dropped in for a visit.  He was a hoot!


After the play started, we had another surprise visitor.  Our grandson walked through the play unexpectedly....
Our grandson stealing the show!
That little stinker had gone in the other room and found the oldest rabbi's get-up.  He put it on and came strolling through the play.  We all cracked up!!!  I would say he's a ham, but that's not kosher. (laughing).  Anyway, he really stole the show.  Here's a picture I took after the party:  


Chag Purim is one of the songs we sing at Purim:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpmEq3VnWIs

And I love the Maccabeats that tells the story of Purim in a fun way:



I'd love to hear about your Purim celebration!

 ~~~~~
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Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Wisdom Wednesday #16 - Blessings


Last week, I said I'd talk about the hand sign Rabbi Jem uses when giving a blessing.  This is it:


If you are a Star Trek fan, you probably think this was stolen from Spock.  No, the truth is Leonard Nimoy is Jewish and learned this from his grandfather who was a rabbi.  

The fingers make the letter "shin" in Hebrew: ש
The letter shin is a the first letter of the Hebrew word "shomer" which means "guardian".  The rabbi is the guardian of the synagogue. 

Blessings are an important emphasis in Jewish life.  I wrote about the blessing for wives and children, and today I'll share about the Aaronic blessing.  The instructions for this blessing are found in Numbers 6: 23-26*

Speak to Aharon and his sons, and tell them that this is how you are to bless the people of Israel: you are to say to them,



May Adonai bless you and keep you.
May Adonai make his face shine on you and show you his favor. May Adonai lift up his face toward you and give you peace.

At the end of service, we gather in a circle.  The men hold up their tallits over their family members and Rabbi Jem gives the blessing. What a wonderful way to end our time together - going home being blessed and feeling under G-d's wings.

Well, we don't all go home then.  We have "oneg", which is a time of food and fellowship together.  It's a great time with "mishpacha" (family). 

Shalom (peace) to you all, and have a good week.
*quotations are from the Complete Jewish Bible

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Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Wisdom Wednesday #15 - Blessing Our Children


Every Sabbath, Jewish children receive the blessing of their parents.  It is traditional for the parents to place their hands on the child's head and say this prayer:

For sons:  May G-d make you as Ephraim and Manasseh.

For daughters:  May G-d make you as Sarah, Rivkah, Rachel, and Leah, the four mothers of Israel.



During our Erev Shabbat service, the children stand under the tallit and we sing a song of blessing to them, followed by the blessings listed above.  This is the song we sing (from Fiddler on the Roof)




Don't you love the words?  Imagine growing up being blessed by your parents in this manner.  My husband, Rabbi Jem, grew up in a Jewish home and was blessed by his parents each week. The prayers and the blessings he received have had a great impact on his life. 

I love this part of the service because the children look so precious standing there as we bless them.  We stretch out our hands to them and make the sign of the "shin" (a Hebrew letter).  You can see the two littlest boys trying to make the sign, too.  I'll explain more about this in next week's post.   

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I'm sharing this post at:

Spiritual Sunday


Let's Get Social Sunday

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Hearts for Home
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