And it’s a gut punch, the kind
that makes you re-evaluate
all your entrances and exits,
all the small choices that led you
to this moment, this moment when
you want to cry open
the inner gears of God
and beg for the why.
***
Tag Archives: Grief
Watch The News
Filed under Being and Feeling, Headlines - News, Lifestyle, Re-Blogs and Great Blogs
Grief and Gratitude
How do you describe a grief for a person you haven’t met in 10 years or weren’t best friends with, but it just sits heavy and hurt in the middle of your chest for more than a week now but you do know they meant the world for their family.
You remember their gentleness, their distinct humor, their goodness, their simplicity and a tear rolls down , just like the rain drops on this window glass.
I remember the teenage girl with twinkling eyes and contagious laughter, I haven’t met the wife and mother she became in last decade. Our well being was communicated to each other through our families which are neighbours and friendly.
We were always keen to receive news of the other and wished only goodness.
Her sudden passing has shook me deep, out of the autopilot mode my life tend to switches despite my continuous efforts…
View original post 119 more words
Filed under Being and Feeling, Re-Blogs and Great Blogs
Joy is the gift of love
Dutch translation / Nederlandse vertaling: Vreugde is het geschenk van de liefde
Joy is the gift of love. Grief is the price of love. Anger protects that which is loved. And when we think we have reached our limit, wonder is the act that returns us to love.
~Valarie Kaur, in See No Stranger
Filed under Positive thoughts, Re-Blogs and Great Blogs, Reflection Texts
Grounded
Daily we are surrounded by bad news-stories via the media (television and social media). All those terrible stories can weaken us and manage to bring fear to many (for no obvious reason, because they live far away from the trouble).
Often it is better to detach because it is not possible to live day to day if you spiral into all in the grief in the world. We have to be conscious about it, but may not close our eyes and ears for the beauties that are around us. And for sure there can be found a lot of beauty, even in the smallest thing.
Each of us can help to give others a feeling of safety and comfort in their own surroundings, accepting the wide variety of cultures that can go together anyway.
A person can not love the others without loving himself first and without wanting to share with others.Today we can see that the fear for the unknown brings many to choose for extreme right wing political groups, which make use of the fear for other people and cultures, and bring the immigration in a wrong exaggerated light. Immigration, by the way, has been there for ages. It is nothing new. Every generation has come to know about some migration.
When we are willing to learn more about the world we and others live in we shall understand the different positions better and come to accept certain things much easier.
When each person is willing to come closer to the other, and is willing to open his mind to come to understand the other better, by willingness of openness of mind and heart the little environment we live in can change, but like a domino falling can bring something bigger changing too.
Let us always remember that a spiritual shaking is always safer than a real earth shaking.
*
To remember
All through life when times get tough, when things start to run away with us or when things start to get too much we often hear the advice
“stay grounded.”
- to balance us, to remind of something solid, something steady
how exactly do we stay grounded when we can’t even trust the ground we walk on?
- on a little Greek island = best + worst moments of humanity play out on a daily basis => difficult to stay grounded
Facebook safety check icon > pictures of Parliament + London Bridge > horrors + pictures of frantic families trying to trace their missing children
- a family connected by love
- memories of places we love
- distract ourselves from terrorism on our doorsteps with the escalating rhetoric of nuclear war between North Korea and the US?
- watch white supremacists march the streets
- ongoing refugee crisis on shores of Italy + Greece
- hundreds of lives still lost in the Mediterranean
- hundreds of lives trapped in camps + detention facilities > endless wait for asylum in Europe.
=> pretty hard to stay grounded
=> have become so desensitized
= not go to denial but keep our heads?
- most important thing = not buy into all the hate.
- majority of people = kind + loving
- fear + when we are really scared => ignorance can lead to some pretty extreme standpoints on issues we never really felt too strongly about before.
== to stay grounded we need to start learning more about the world we live in + we need to discover how we can make change.
Stand together, show love where you find hate and don’t let fear win.
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Preceding
Going on holiday is… silence in your head
Summer holiday time to knock and ask, and time to share
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Additional reading
- Uncertainty, shame and no time for vacillation
- What is life?
- Immigration consternation
- Would you run
- Mountains of information, disinformation and breaking away
- Fearmongering succeeded and got the bugaboo a victory
- Fear of failure, and fear of the unknown
- I Am Not Alone – By: Kari Jobe
- Emotional pain and emotional deadness
- The soul has no rainbow if the eyes have no tears
- Not fear or dread or blind compulsion
- Can We Pay The Price To Free Humanity?
- The chosen ones to fear or not to fear
- Whom Shall I Fear (God of Angel Armies) by Chris Tomlin
- Prayer has comforted us in sorrow
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Further reading
- What Makes Me Bern about Fear
- Fear
- “… Fears…”
- Worry and Fear
- Fear, Surprise, Relief, What’s Next?
- Courage is not an absence of fear…
- What Fear Can Do To You.
- The Power Fear Holds Over Us
- Overwhelmed
- Anxious And Worried? Pray!
- Celebrate Victories Daily
- Change
- Face Your Fears | Choose Joys
- Italy: Migrants from Riace are to be resettled
- Criminalization of aid puts migrant lives at further risk
- Migration: 416,000 more people moved to Germany than emigrated
- After the Crisis? Reflections on Migration Governance
- Turkey slams developed nations over migration issue
- The migration which is changing the demography of India : The illegal migrants of Bangladesh
- The Year of Immigration theme seeks to create a renewed sense of community in College Park
- Szijjarto rejects the UN Migration compact
- Thousands flee due to crisis, Brazil deploys army to Venezuela border
- Parliament condemns the Sargentini Report
- Crosses Erected For Thousands Of Dead Immigrants Who Never Reached American Dream – Desert Graves
All through life when times get tough, when things start to run away with us or when things start to get too much we often hear the advice “stay grounded.” We are told to “keep our feet on the ground” to balance us, to remind of something solid, something steady that can help bring us down from those dizzying heights that challenging times can take us to. But what happens when that safety net fails, when you can no longer trust the earth to keep you steady?
Recently I experienced a rather nasty earthquake which has left this question playing on my mind. When we live in a world of such uncertainty, how exactly do we stay grounded when we can’t even trust the ground we walk on?
But this idea of losing trust in your surroundings goes further than a shift in tectonic plates, for me personally anyway. Over…
View original post 972 more words
When Tragedy Strikes…
People can encounter difficult situations which can open an unexpected door of healing. Today the guestspeaker was reminded of the story of Joseph and his reconciliation with his brothers.
It took a moment of great emotion to open a door that, with God’s help, Joseph walked through to embrace his brothers with forgiveness and understanding that what he went through was necessary to become the man that God intended for him to be.
We also look at the release of all the pent-up emotion and guilt which must have been very freeing, and at a story that reminds that God uses all things for His glory, not just the easy situations.
As a mother, her desire is to have shalom (peace) in her home all the time but of course, that isn’t very realistic. When people are involved, there will be some sort of conflict.
We always have the choice to allow God to influence us through difficult circumstances or we can stubbornly refuse to walk through the door He provides.
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Preceding articles
Many opportunities given by God
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Related articles
We recently had a tragedy on our farm. It involved one of our goats and ice and resulted in a freak accident that took his life. You might be thinking, “It’s just a goat…?” As you may have discerned, we have an interesting perspective on animals around here. They are all pets and they become part of the family in a way. I know… not very “farmer-like” is it? The news about the accident actually came in a phone call as Erika and I had been traveling at the time. Between the upset of losing a goat and wanting to be home to help, the sadness over the situation was magnified.
As difficult as this situation was, it opened an unexpected door of healing. It reminded me of the story of Joseph and his reconciliation with his brothers. It took a moment of great emotion to open a door that…
View original post 407 more words
Filed under Being and Feeling, Re-Blogs and Great Blogs
Dealing with Disappointment
A writer who has three teenage sons and one teenage daughter, all of them were born about seventeen months apart has a family life like any other in which good and bad things may happen. Having been immersed in diapers, runny noses, and sticky fingers full on in those years this writer looks at what disappointment may be.
Grief (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
She has loved with as much vulnerability as she could, but have wonders if she trained them well. When facing the day again many thoughts may come up in our head and questions may whirl around our head.
Do they know where to turn when the battle around them rages on. When their hearts are hurt, when there is fear or remorse? Do they know how to forgive and how to extend grace?
As parents we try to prepare our children. We try to make them strong enough so that they , at their turn, shall be able to look at the world, go into it and accomplish many things. Hopefully not having to suffer to much and hopefully not to end up to be disappointed.
For sure they too shall have to face ‘Disappointments’, but what would they be?
*
To remember
- It looks different for everyone…it is deeply personal.
- Maybe … describes an unmet need, a missed opportunity,…a loss > cut deeply, become hard to move through + settle deep in the spirit, festering… leaving holes in beating hearts. => rob the heart fibers of joy.
- Disappointments left untended => create bitter roots reaching deep…souring the soul and poisoning the body.
She felt that kind of life-threatening disappointment. The kind that will suck the very breath from your lungs.
- the climb too hard + the terrain too exhausting = journey seems impossible.
What is your mountain? A failing marriage…children running from home or faith…a body broken with sickness…a heart crushed with grief? Betrayal from a friend?
- Our life will be messy + take place among the brokenness in the world.
- Brokenness around us…brokenness living within us = living among the weeds.
- when we feel empty > dull, lonely heartache
The writer has learned not to let her fleeting feelings rule + reign her thoughts about a current circumstance.
- God has given an entire range of emotional experience to explore = freedom bring great joy + excruciating heartache.
**
Please concerning the last part of the text we want to say that we best pray to God. We also may be thankful to Jesus and give him praise, but we may only give the highest praise and worship to the heavenly Father of Jesus.
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Preceding articles
Preceding
Facing our existence every day
Facing daily events and exclaiming “Good grief!”
Are you right down in the dumps? Stop digging!
A look at the Poet’s corner’s grief basket
Some Thoughts On Bitterness From Various Authors
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Related articles
A look at the Poet’s corner’s grief basket
(Sculpture) “Grief.”, by Centennial Photographic Co. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
We have taken the liberty to look at the Poet’s Corner which was started to help poets showcase their own poems. It is a place of musings and word-play we can recommend.
Over there you may find
In times of grief by Harry, submitted by Jim Mowatt where we are reminded that in time of grief when we loose someone
Words are all we have to ease our pain
These are dark days and we
Are in a place we don’t want to be
Wishing we could be somewhere else instead
In a field of green
In a valley by a stream
Not many see that there is a Provider Who created a huge valley full of living water. though when we loose some one loved he or she shall stay in our heart and his or her name and memories will be deeply engraved in our heart.
You’ve got to be strong
You want to be with
You want to hold on
To your loved one
In a field of green.
talking about ‘Grief’ tells us 
Grief is standing
outside the locked gates of Eden
in the face of an angel with a flaming sword
who prevents us from entering again
the innocence of a love
that once was
More than once taken by grief we always have to continue and try to be stronger than that what is smothering our heart. Move on
Light burns dark eyes.
wrapped between breast and blanket.
A heartbeat echoes every step travelled.
Walking, stretch and yaw of creaking harness.
…
Tears, screams, disbelief. Grief.
Angels taken from the world.
Empty words. Rhetoric, leaders speak.
Sympathy stretches to the next blocked gate.
The next protest, the next broken stare.
Are we human now?
Standing in this world we might hear the wind breeze. Morgan hearing it and saying to us
Photograph found at HDQwide.com. Credit Gratefully Acknowledged to the Original Photographer.
The Whispers of the Breeze
Speaks Silence to my Heart,
In Shades of Indigo Brilliance
And Bright Luminous Mists of Tranquil Blue,Speaking of Sweet Mystery,
Uttering Paradoxes, Timeless and True.
Unfettered upon this Whisper of Air,
Unchained from Grief, from Doubt, from Despair,
Into the Realms of Pearlescent Dreams,
Glittering Incomprehensibility Streams. {The Whisper of the Breeze}
In order that you and I would never pay what we deserved to pay, so many centuries ago there was that man who was willing not to fulfil his own will but to do the Will of his heavenly Father, and to offer himself as a Lamb. Thanks to God willing to accept this ransom offer we now can over-win all that pain, suffering and even death.
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Preceding
Facing our existence every day
Facing daily events and exclaiming “Good grief!”
Are you right down in the dumps? Stop digging!
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Related articles
Filed under Being and Feeling, Poetry - Poems, Religious affairs
Facing daily events and exclaiming “Good grief!”
When waking up every day we may be lucky to wake up, to face the day again. In the day we may perhaps encounter lots of things which surprises us and sometimes we call out ‘good grief’
The young Garrick Sinclair “Ricky” Beckett, a U.S. Army veteran honourably discharged as a professional saxophonist in the Army Bands, currently attending Concordia University-Ann Arbor in the Pre-Seminary programme with a major in Christian Thought and a minor in Theological Languages looks at a popular cartoon figure.
He writes
As he hears some bad news, Charlie Brown exclaims, “Good grief!” We often think of this as an oxymoron. Grief can’t possibly be good! {Good grief}
Robert Plutchik’s Wheel of Emotions (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
By the word grief we think of sorrow and distress, even of great mourning and affliction. When having bodily pain or when our mind is being hurt we can be grief stricken. Deep sadness caused especially by someone’s death or by trouble or annoyance grief comes over us. Grievance overmans us when there is a cause of such suffering or a deep and poignant distress caused by or as if by bereavement. We can come to grief but than it means we fail in something we’re doing, and may be hurt.
Even the cleverest boy could come to grief alone, in the night. {Collins dictionary on Come to grief}
In Dutch ‘grief’ is ‘verdriet’ and is connected to ‘lijden (suffering), ‘bedroefd zijn’ (grow sad, being sad, be sorry, sorrow) maar ook tot ‘afkeer’ (aversion, distaste, disgust, revulsion,repulsion, repugnance, loathing, abhorrence, abomination, scunner). When ‘come to grief‘ we founder, break down, collapse, fall through, flop (informal), be defeated, fall short, fizzle out (informal), come unstuck, run aground, bite the dust, and even feel that we go up in smoke, come to naught, not make the grade (informal), go down like a lead balloon (informal). In any case it looks like it turns out badly, us falling flat on our face, meeting with disaster. Stuck with grief we may be found lacking or wanting, facing a spiritual miscarry or misfire.
Some people say ‘Good grief‘ when they are surprised or shocked. When we face something that’s actually worth grieving over, we’re often overwhelmed.
From a ‘sukkelstraatje’ (being in trouble/in dire stratis) we can become ailing (sickly) with a ‘sukkelpartij’ (sucker party) receiving ‘zielspijn’ (agony, heartache, profound sorrow) or ‘zieleleed’ (sadness). That ‘zielesmart’ or ‘zielsverdriet’ (anguish, heartache,profound sorrow, misery, unhappiness), ‘Weedom’ (woe), ‘hartenpijn’ ‘hartenleed’ (heartache, heartfelt grief, heartfelt sorrow, heartbreak), agony consumes us with grief.
We do know we have to cope with it, we have to conquer it or go over such grief.
It’s rather ironic that our culture views grief as a bad thing while it encourages grief over a lot of things. It is encouraged that we grieve over minimum wage, to grieve over what the White Man did to black people centuries ago during slavery, to grieve over what the government did to the indigenous peoples of America… {Good grief}
The savoury on our daily bread is not always pleasant. we may try to begin every day with gratitude, because all we have, has been given to us. This body, heart and mind, friendships, opportunities, challenges, family,… it is all given to us. But honestly we are not always pleased with the confrontation with it.
We may value family where we practice love and sharing. We may value work where we share our passions and gifts. And most of all we would like to have a good health and value it.
As we align with gratitude, values, dharma, and who we are as limitless conscious existence, every action we take becomes a contribution to the whole. {Why Are We Here?}
Getting up we notice we face the day and can fill it with words and deeds.
this world we touch but in words
words insulated in plated metal
this world we hold but in teeth
teeth estranged from heart’s palate {This World, A Seat}
Sometimes it looks like every day again we do have to start all over again, going back to these “manifold temptations,” which tour around our face. Every day there are so many things we do have to face, so many experiences we have to go through.
It can be anything in this life that tends to trouble us or haunt us that can bring grief over us.
something that hurts you at the most sensitive and delicate core of your soul, heart, and mind — things that tend to make you miserable. How do we get past these things? {Facing Trials: Why Do We Suffer? – Introduction}
Facing each day we have to open our eyes and look at all things, seeing them in perspective, trying to understand what is really going on and what sort of place it deserves.
The danger is to just endure our troubles with groans and whines and complaints and not do anything to discover the remedy to the situation. We come into the danger of thinking, “Why is God doing this to me?” {Facing Trials: Why Do We Suffer? – Introduction}
With “Ricky” Beckett we urge you not to think “why” these things happen to us, but rather to think what.
Instead of thinking, “Why me,” think instead, “What can I learn from this? What does God want to teach me?” And then how: “How will this make me grow closer to God?” In short, other than the sinful condition of the world we live in, that is why we suffer — to learn something from God and to grow closer to Him, and then the “why” may reveal itself to you as God works out His progressive revelation in your life. That’s the short answer, but now let’s discuss the longer answer. {Facing Trials: Why Do We Suffer? – Introduction}
Each day again, and again, we should be prepared to learn and to continue our road, up to a better world for us.
We are living in this world and walking on our paths under the eye of our Heavenly Father.
Say to yourself,
“There is a definite plan and purpose for my life. God has examined me and has adopted me into His family.”
Why does He do this for us? So that He may bring us into perfection (which is not acquired during this earthly life). That is His objective — that you may “be conformed to the image of His Son” (Romans 8:29), as Jesus Christ will say, “Here I am with the children God gave Me” (Hebrews 2:13). If we do not believe and recognise this fundamental concept of ourselves as Christians, then we are bound to go astray and misunderstand these troubles that happen to us as God’s children. {Facing Trials: Why Do We Suffer? – Introduction}
These days lots of people take some time to think about the death and remember the dead.
When death and disaster occur, we are so grief stricken that we don’t know what to do. While all this is going on, we avoid grieving over our sin, which the thing we should grieve the most. It is good to grieve over this because our sin alienates us from God. “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23a). We should grieve greatly over this because the end of our sin is death. But fear not! The Romans verse continues, “but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Godly grief is good grief, for it leads us to repentance. Godly grief, or good grief, causes us to recognise our need for forgiveness—our need for Christ. By repentance we exercise faith in Christ for the forgiveness of sins, and we are justified by faith (Romans 5:1).
Let us always remember that God may permit all these things we have to face, to happen to us and to the people around us, not for the purpose of making us suffer and watching us squirm, as some would like to believe, but rather in order to chastise us, which He enacts due to our complacency and for our failure.
In 2 Peter 1:5-7, the apostle writes that Christians are to discipline themselves and to supplement attributes to their faith, not merely to be content with minimal faith but for it to be forever increasing. There are Christians who do not take heed of this exhortation and instead are indefatigable with their complacency and indolence. As I understand New Testament doctrine, if we do that we should not be surprised if we start to experience troubles — that God perhaps begins to chastise us by shaking us off our shiftless butts. {Facing Trials: Why Do We Suffer? – Chastisement}
We ourselves are also not free from bringing grief to others. We must recognise that we too can do things wrongly. We too can bring pain to others and give them heartache or grief. Many Christians are convinced that as re-born people they cannot sin. But they are mistaken.
First John 3:9-10 says,
“Everyone who has been born of God does not sin, because His seed remains in him; he is not able to sin, because he has been born of God. This is how God’s children — and the Devil’s children — are made evident.”
Now, it is easy to misinterpret this passage. It is not saying that God’s children are incapable of sinning. After all, even though we’re God’s children, we still sin.
St. John is saying that the one “born of God” — that is, baptised in the Holy Spirit — does not make it his life’s trade to sin.
The child of God does not make it his life’s priority to live in sin, as the children of the Devil do (e.g. the homosexual lifestyle, a murderous lifestyle such as ISIS or serial killers, etc.).God’s children are not free from acts of sin, but the child of God does not commit to be a servant of sin, but rather a servant of God and His holiness. Christians are not impeccable; they are simultaneously saint and sinner (simul iustus et peccator). Sin lives within us, but the Christian is justified by faith (Romans 5:1; Galatians 3:24). John is not speaking of sinless perfection but of a life imputed with Christ’s righteousness.
We can and shall have moments of weakness and shall sin. Afterwards we should repent, which is doing a work of faith. Only when we do such works of faith shall we be able to enter the Kingdom of God. When not willing to see what we have done wrong and not wanting to repent over the wrongdoing we shall not be allowed to enter through the small gate. The teshuvah or repentance is a necessary ingredient to come to God.
Knowing that God may have a particularly great task set for us we should wonder what we can do in the world God has prepared for us. Facing that world, where we are so many times tested, we should not mind having ourselves tested, when we are standing straight in our shoes, going for the One True God.
So, one may have to pass through a certain trial because of some great task ahead that God has planned for them. Think of any biblical character that had to endure such a trial. The first person that comes to mind for me is Jonah. He was running from God’s calling to preach to Nineveh, and as we know he was swallowed by a great fish; and upon repentance and accepting his calling, God saved his life by having the great fish spit him out onto the land to fulfill his calling. Maybe a drastic example, but perhaps not as drastic as you might think. Consider any whales of doubt you might have in your life and what God is doing to bring you through those doubts, or what you ought to let Him do. {Facing Trials: Why Do We Suffer? – God to Prepare Us}
Facing each day lying in front of us we best remember that we are given the opportunity to be here and that God knows what’s best for us and what we need to experience in order to get us where He wants us to be. Therefore let us give ourselves in His Hands and be thankfull that He was willing to accept the ransom offer from His son.
As our Heavenly Father, God may see the need for trials and prescribe the necessary tools that are destined to make us grow in Him for our own good. {Facing Trials: Why Do We Suffer? – God to Prepare Us}
With the knowledge that worldly grief produces only death because the world has no hope for a relief from their grief, we do have a better prospect in the hope given to mankind.
Worldly grief abandons the person who grieves. Godly grief is guilt over sin, which this guilt leads to repentance as the sinner recognises the necessity for forgiveness in Christ, which leads to salvation because the repentance we perform is exercised by this faith gifted to us, and it is through this gift of faith that we are saved (Ephesians 2:8-9). {Good grief}
Perhaps we leave it to others to say ‘good grief’ when they see our endurance and come to see we want to present to the world a good example of a loving person, whatever happens to him.
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Preceding
Facing our existence every day
Are you right down in the dumps? Stop digging!
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Additional reading
- A world in denial
- Materialism, would be life, and aspirations
- Dealing with worries in our lives
- Emotional pain and emotional deadness
- Fragments from the Book of Job #1: chapters 1-12
- Fragments from the Book of Job #4: chapters 27-31
- Isaiah prophet and messenger of God
- Suffering
- Offer in our suffering
- Suffering – through the apparent silence of God
- Suffering continues
- Suffering leading to joy
- Self inflicted misery #8 Pruning to strengthen us
- Surprised by time in joys & sufferings
- Profitable disasters
- Prayer has comforted us in sorrow
- The soul has no rainbow if the eyes have no tears
- Every athlete exercises self control
- Trusting, Faith, Calling and Ascribing to Jehovah #4 Transitoriness #3 Rejoicing in the insistence
- Trusting, Faith, Calling and Ascribing to Jehovah #8 Prayer #6 Communication and manifestation
- Trusting, Faith, Calling and Ascribing to Jehovah #9 Prayer #7 Reason to pray
- Trusting, Faith, Calling and Ascribing to Jehovah #10 Prayer #8 Condition
- Continuing Paul’s Prayer Requests
- Written to recognise the Promissed One
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Further reading
- Day By Day
- Grief
- Throw-back Thursday: Grief is a fickle foe
- Book Mark: Notes on Friends’ Grief
- Grief From Across The World
- The Well of Grief
- The unspoken grievance
- The Five Stages of Grief
- Sad
- Memories…and Grief
- Deviant Deflections – Unrequited Love
- When part of you is missing
- No one tells you about the guilt..
- Monday Morning Grievance: The New Copier
- After Suicide
- How To Go On
- God I miss you.
- Letter to you, my little one…
- That feeling
- Heart Holes
- Waiting For The Dutchman
- Old Unfinished Post: The 5 Stages of Relationship Grief
- Grief embraces love
- 1 a.m. on the Borderline
- Inside the glacier of my mind
- Beautiful Reminders
- Beyond the grey clouds
- The Mercy of the Morning
- Here’s to better naked tomorrows
- It Is God’s Gospel
- (11/04/2016) Works of the Spirit?
- Forgiveness and Eternal Life Through Jesus Christ
- Does Working with Others Lead to Better Results than Acting as an Individual? L 41
- Leading by example
- Jesus Models Friendship
- Saints
- Mercy in giving
- 1 Timothy 4:12 (31.10.16)
- The stories we tell
- Eulogia
- “Conformity To The Will Of God”
- Advice… L38
- If You Really Love Me
- Life Changing Moments While Young
- Good Advice for Us in Today’s World
- Love as a god
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Related articles
Filed under Being and Feeling, Knowledge & Wisdom, Lifestyle, Religious affairs
Carrying others whilst God is carrying you
God’s care will carry you, then you can carry others.>
‘Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows…and by his stripes we are healed.’ Isaiah 53:4-5
God, we are grateful that You have given us Your son
making our liberation possible
Dutch version / Nederlandse versie > Anderen dragen terwijl God u draagt
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Related articles
Filed under Lifestyle, Prayers, Reflection Texts, Religious affairs, Social affairs
Paris, in Retrospect
As one of your own said,
“Even the darkest night will and and the sun will rise.”
That night has ended and the sun did rise
But the sun only illuminated the devastation
Parents grieved their children
And the world watched in horror
Lamenting the act of terror
And across the sea, Lady Liberty hung her head
Sorrowful for her native land
So we are left
Trying to find meaning in the pain
Trying to explain this deed
But there is only one answer
Evil.
Evil that has been building for centuries
Evil that began when they both took and ate
Evil that grew when their son killed his brother
Evil that has spread across the earth
There is no one righteous, no not one
But there is goodness
There is a light that fights night and day
With the darkness of our very souls
You can shine a light…
View original post 37 more words
Filed under Crimes & Atrocities, Poetry - Poems, Re-Blogs and Great Blogs
Putting your feelings into words and sharing them
Beings with feelings
Let’s Talk About Feelings (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
All human beings have feelings. We have to cope with them. There are many ways to cope with them.
We also see lots of things happening around us. We are touched with what we notice, and we also want to give a voice to our feelings. We all want to be heard as well.
You too may find that putting your feelings into words and sharing them with a sympathetic listener will make it easier to deal with them.
Writing can also be a helpful release. Some who find it difficult to talk about their feelings may find it easier to express themselves in writing.
Looking at old writings
Most of the things today are not written for education, but we still should find time to look for writings that can edify us. We can take time to look at the old writings which were written for our instruction, that through our endurance and through the comfort from the Scriptures we might have hope. In the very old books we can find people who wrote down their thoughts so that others also could hear about them. But they also put their feelings in their writings to get freedom in their inner soul.
Following the death of Saul and Jonathan, the faithful man David wrote a deeply mournful song in which he poured out his sorrow. This emotional dirge eventually became part of the Bible book of Second Samuel.—2 Samuel 1:17–27.
Crying may also serve as an emotional release. “For everything there is an appointed time, even . . . a time to weep,” says the Bible. (Ecclesiastes 3:1, 4) To be sure, the death of someone we love is “a time to weep.” Tears of grief are nothing to be embarrassed about. The Bible contains many examples of faithful men and women who openly expressed their grief by weeping. (Genesis 23:2; 2 Samuel 1:11, 12) Jesus Christ “gave way to tears” when he neared the tomb of his dear friend Lazarus, who had recently died.—John 11:33, 35.
Working through grief takes patience, for you may feel that you are on an emotional roller coaster. Remember that you do not have to be ashamed of your tears. Many faithful individuals have found that shedding tears of grief is a normal and necessary part of the healing process.
Sharing is helping
Putting down words of feeling can help you but also can help others.
It is a matter of sharing love for each-other that we should share thoughts with each other. We, by bringing matters to attention, can bring others to think about that matter. By publishing our own story we might show others they are not alone having those feelings or having to go through the same struggle.
Social networking Web sites
Image via CrunchBase
The last few years several placed their little pieces and their little stories on Facebook. Recently they added Twitter to give some shouts into the internet world, or they threw in a nod to Google+ or Circles. We may even find pets with Facebook pages and politicians’ Internet campaigns and etiquette for R.S.V.P.’ing to events and the best way to wish someone happy birthday without feeling like an exclamatory fool! Social networking Web sites are the latest and greatest way to interact with other users on the Internet. Thirty-five percent of adults on the Internet now have a profile on at least one social networking site, and 51 percent have more than one. Three-quarters of users between the ages of 18 and 24 have an online profile.
CrazyFriendz is the free online social networking service. The service allows users to make new friends and manage existing relationships. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The Pew Research Center found that 89 percent of these people use the sites to keep up with friends, 57 percent to make plans with friends and 49 percent to make new friends.
There are articles that tell us that sharing is the most popular form of internet use today. But what is being shared and how? As the world of P2P file sharing grows and evolves, various torrent search sites distinguish themselves. Some bands don’t mind if you share their music, and they even encourage it. But what about reading material? Who wants to share interesting reading material? Who wants to let others know he or she did find something interesting to read?
This UML diagram describes the domain of LinkedIn social networking system. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, Friendster, Urban Chat and Black Planet are just a few of more than 100 Web sites connecting folks around the world who are eager to share their thoughts and feelings. But just like in real life, there’s such a thing as sharing too much information (TMI). It’s easy to get caught up in the social aspects of sites like Facebook, but what you choose to share is there for all to see if you don’t limit who can view your information. The same study by Pew Research found that 40 percent of users have open access to their profiles, allowing anyone to view their information. The other 60 percent restrict access to friends, family and colleagues. Sharing personal information with strangers can be dangerous business, and there are some things you should definitely put on your “do not share” list.
Crossover, public and genres
With 51 percent of social network users taking advantage of more than one site, there’s bound to be some crossover from one to the other, especially if you have the sites linked. Sometimes we may find interesting bits or would like to talk or discuss matters not on our own private blog, because it could bring an other site of us in the forefront we do not want to be known directly, before our friends and bosses, or want to make sure no connection is made endangering our work.
Many do not mind sharing lots of things on Facebook, but are afraid to share real serious material on their blogs or on other blogs which reserve a place to contribute stories, like this site does.
Social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace cater to a smorgasbord of users while people using sites such as Subeta and Neopets are mostly teens. Social networking sites can be very specific, too. For instance, you’ll find sites for just about every type of car, sport and sports team or music genre. And one of the largest groups of specialized social media sites is dedicated to parenting.
Many men and women will be, are or hope to be parents. That’s why social networking sites for parents are growing all over the Internet.
Communities and chit chat
Friendster (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
How many sites will you be able to find about the way of life, or how to help each other, working to get a better living together? You may find lots of “Communities” where is being chit-chatted about little things of the world or materials things, like puppets, cars, games, etc.. but who wants to take time to share something about the beauties of nature. Sharing about the beautiful ladies, we may find enough, but about the plants and animals we shall find less. Mothers, fathers, gamers, fun or entertainment-park users, all have some sites where they can meet each other. They all have their own social networking sites aiming toward connecting, like minded of from the same sort, online. Users on those sites can choose to navigate in different easy to use areas including Discussions, Groups, Things to Do, Photo, Video, Coupons, Marketplace and My Stuff.
Some do not mind to pay to have a “Family’s home” on the internet. Other sites, like Minti, ask to join discussions and offer advice to others in search of the answers to the perpetual questions that come with raising children, providing a forum for parents to share advice and network with parents with similar interests, problems or questions regarding parenting.
Focus of the writers
At those social network-sites the focus of the writers is mostly on themselves. From Guestwriters has no pretension to become also a social network site. It does not aim to bring the focus to particular writers. Instead of aiming themselves in the picture, the writers on this site do want to bring subjects and things they find interesting into the picture. The focus is on the material and not on persons or individuals. The material presented here wants to be undone from the writer, bringing thoughts which could be for everybody and should move many.
Here we want to confront issues and not so much persons. the aim is to give place to matters which should interest many and which should be of importance for human beings. The people joined here, do not want to put themselves on the first row. They want to approach others with sympathy and respect. They might approach the sharing of their or your thoughts and feelings with others. This they want to do with an attitude of respect for them-self with respect for yourself and for the other persons.
We are aware that not many people are interested to take time to read deeper going articles or poetry today. But we can only hope enough interested people would come along and would not mind giving their ‘contribution’. We would love to find a place where there may be created a healthy discussion atmosphere. But this site is not in the first place a discussion forum. No, it wants only to be a place where different thoughts may be uttered next to each other, without anybody taking a grudge or being disturbed or scandalized. We do not want feelings over the presented material to run high. We do not want to find polluting or poisonous words, but spiritual feeding words. We do not want to present destructive powers on this site. Contrary we would love to see building up material, presenting positive material.
Peace loving agreement to disagree
We would like to find all peace loving people over here. We may all want to have change, but we do not want to get change by violent actions. The general idea is to come to a place of peace with each other. We do know that peace at any cost is not peace and that we should work for it. We shall have to dare to put wounds open to be able to let them heal. We shall have to point the finger to the ulcers in our community. We shall have to face the illnesses in our community. Yes, to get on our way together, to find peace and a nicer world to live, we shall have to see the good and the bad things in the world, and be able to talk about them. It is over those good and bad things we would like to see writings on this site, by different people, who might have very diverse opinions. We want not restrict such divergent ideas nor a diversity of interests. Varied opinions may be sharply, but over here we do not want them to hurt any body. We all want to accept that each writer may present things from a different viewpoint. though we may differ from opinion we do not mind sharing together those different viewpoints and enjoying such a variety of ideas. (Imaging all wearing the same grey uniforms, all using the same words in the same order.)
We do not want to be blind for the different views there are in the world, but also do not want to ignore the different solutions which could be possible. In case a conflict would be shown it does not mean that such conflicting views would not allow a good relationship. It is not because we may have different opinions we do not like each other. We do not mind to admit there is conflict and consider the way we handle it more important and part of enjoying the peace in our relationship. Looking and discussion about the differences always keeping an open mind and having a willingness to work it out to come to a place of peace, shall give both parties fulfilment.
It may surprise you, but it should not, that we allow different opinions to exist next to each other. Presenting such different ideas also does not mean we would like to provoke argument nor agreement. We want to show that people can live together in peace even with different ideas and believing in agreement to disagree.
Willing to come together
Our hopes are that we may find enough people willing to share ideas and to taste the different flavours others might present here. It would be lovely if we can bring a pallet of different writers from all over the world. Perhaps it might be the nostalgic feeling of what we had in our children time, which was called in Dutch “poëzie”, an album of verses, little stories, uplifting texts and pictures.
The big differnce now being that in that album everything might have been centred to ourselves, now the focus goes to the others around us.
As adults we have come to see that the world doesn’t revolve around us and the world doesn’t revolve around the person. One of the keys to success in relationships is learning to yield to each other. Over here we would like to offer a place where everybody can come along and find material that can feed him or her to go on. In case many persons do not mind sharing positive ideas and inspirational thoughts, those who want to write on this site would be pleased to offer a source of inspiration and spiritual guidance.
Providing a warm, supportive environment
We all get some nice but also very unpleasant moments in our life. at the darker moments in life either we can get in our own little corner or look for a place where we can enjoy some light. We do hope this site might become such a place where many people shall be able to find some comfort, peace, tranquillity and find some inspiring notes, which can help them to get above the garbage they are feeling in.
We do not want to be pretentious squirts. We make no pretensions to expert knowledge. We have not the presumption we can solve all problems. But we do think we can help each other in different ways. The writers as well as the readers can find support in each other and build up a relationship of good feeling.
We want to offer stories of many people by showing an interest in their journey. We love it to share those voyages throughout the world. Not to walk alone is much nicer than staying in our recluse. We prefer not to be lone wolfs, but to find many people willing to live together in peace on this beautiful earth.
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Join us today by becoming a reader or, why not a contributor as well?
Step in the van or in the bus and go on a nice voyage with us. (By Clicking on the picture you may find out more about the Bloggers for peace.
In case you have already your own blog, why not contribute now and then to this one and presenting some of your writings?
In case you also write regularly about love and peace, you might consider also to become a Blogger for peace.
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Additional reading:
- Words in the world
- Helpful words
- Words to inspire and to give wisdom
- Spring in sight
- Hope
- Working of the hope
- Hope does not disappoint us
- The true hope of eternal life!
- Hope is faith holding out its hand in the dark
- Hope as long as you live
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- Living With(out) Regret and Negative Feelings
- Words are important
- Liberty-human-rights – article 10 – freedom of expression
- Twitter, Outrage, and Jesus
- 10 Powerful Tips For Sharing Thoughts and Feelings
- Did You Ever Wish for a Fast Way to End an Argument?
- Relationship Help–Allow Someone to Struggle to Get Strong
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Related articles
- Make your readers do the weeping. (scribbledrevisions.com)
Grief and pain are universal human emotions from which none of us are immune. You’re familiar with it. So am I. We all are. - Emotions and Faith – Part 1 (commentsonchristianity.com)
Humans are emotional creatures. It’s one of the things that God gave mankind that He did not give to animals (or at least not on the same level we experience them). It’s what makes life beautiful, painful, joyful, sorrowful and meaningful. It’s a gift and a curse, a crutch and a burden.
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I feel an anger when I hear about violent or hateful acts. When I hear of murders, rapes, kidnappings, torture or even hateful speech I am disturbed. I cannot fathom the evil that is in this world. - Into The Blue (anupturnedsoul.wordpress.com)
“Even as you suffer apparent defeats, you may discover that what you are losing is not really anything significant. You may learn that the needs of your ego are not your real needs at all.” – Robert Hand.It is sometimes said that our own suffering makes us more empathic towards others and their suffering. Because we know what suffering is, we see it, recognise it, understand it in others. We understand what they are going through, because we too go through it.
Pain, sadness, grief, connects us. We all feel it, experience it, get to know it more than we would ever like to.
Yet our own pain, sadness, grief, and suffering can disconnect us too. Especially when our mind and ego get involved in how we process our emotions.
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I feel blue and discouraged as things repeat themselves relentlessly and my efforts never materialize, never lead me to progress. My empathy is an obstacle as I keep thinking if I say how I feel it will hurt him and it makes me shiver; I have another pending situation with someone to whom I really need to make things clear and although she is the one who had pricking words for me, I feel guilty if I choose stand for myself.
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Do not fear the deep, dark, often seemingly bleak abyss of blue, breathe it in, breathe it out, let it flow and flow with it, see where it leads. We become stronger as we allow ourselves to embrace all of ourselves, all of life as it is. As we become stronger, how we experience life changes. - Journeys to Resurrection (improbableoptimisms.blogspot.com)
“How could God let this happen?”
We hear this question all the time: after shootings, after tragic car accidents and plane crashes, after typhoons and mudslides and earthquakes. During the seven years I volunteered as a lay hospital chaplain, I heard it often. - He Is Our Comfort In Times of Grief (csahm.com)
grief is inevitable because death is inevitable. All of us must pass from this earth one day and leave loved ones behind.
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Everyone grieves differently, and at a different rate. We must learn that tears are okay; the feelings of isolation or emptiness are normal and will pass - The Knit Soul (1031lifeministries.com)
There are hundreds of friendships and companionships in the Bible, but few compare to the perfect example of David and Jonathan. David was the captain of Saul’s bodyguard and a high ranking member of his army. He had slain Goliath and helped tear the Philistines to shreds; he had killed his ‘tens of thousands’ (1 Samuel 18:7). Saul attempted twice to kill David, and despite this Jonathan stayed by his side because “the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David,” (1 Samuel 18:1) and the two became as brothers, as well as brothers-in-law.
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stop spending any effort on unhealthy relationships because the ones that matter will be much more fulfilling. If there is somebody that you would weep and fast for then cherish that person and let them know how important they are to you. - Tender Love (essentialthingdevotions.com)
What is the most moving film you’ve ever watched? I went to see Les Misérables last week and my husband was outraged that I didn’t cry! Needless to say he shed more than one tear himself. It wasn’t that I wasn’t moved, I was deeply. But I didn’t cry.
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For the record, there have been many films I have been moved to tears by – Message in a Bottle, Titanic, It’s a Wonderful Life, Pay it Forward to name but a few. And of course, the hopeless romantic in me cannot help herself from blubbing at films like PS, I Love You, Sleepless in Seattle, 50 First Dates and Love Actually! Cold-hearted? I think not :-). - It Stinks. (gillianbarr.wordpress.com)
The Bible doesn’t shy away from death. In our culture, we do. We use euphemisms. Bodies are whisked away on gurneys to be cleansed by undertakers We avoid the word “death”–we don’t say someone died. “He passed,” “she transitioned,” “he crossed over,” “she has gone to a better place.” We “celebrate their life” but go to great lengths to avoid the cold hard word “death.” We prolong life in hospitals, we avoid making wills or estate plans or advanced directives. We don’t tell our pastors when we are sick or in trouble because we “don’t want anybody to see us like that.” We may show death and gore in action and fantasy film plots, but we avoid talking about how it happens in real day to day life. - 10 More Hollwood Actors and Performers Who Are Bible-Believing Christians (theblaze.com)
Last year, TheBlaze brought you a list of 10 notable celebrities who are openly Christian. While critics generally charge that there aren’t many “believers” or genuine religious adherents in Hollywood, some would argue against this claim, noting that there are certainly some in the entertainment industry who embrace Christ’s teachings.
Regardless of the exact numbers, there are surely more than 10 celebrities who live by Christian doctrine, so we thought we’d bring you yet another round of Jesus-friendly singers and actors.
- Pro-Faith Hollywood Power Couple Discuss Upcoming Mini-Series ‘The Bible’ on TheBlaze TV (theblaze.com)
As society currently rewards reality television, violent YouTube videos and tends to portray people of faith as “cheesy” or “corny,” Beck pointed to the Emmy Award-winning actress, most famous for having starred in the the popular series “Touched by an Angel,” to showcase the best sides of faith and faith-centered entertainment.Downey, who has produced and starred in a myriad movies and television productions including “Monday After the Miracle” and “Borrowed Hearts,” and was honored as People Magazine’s “100 Most Beautiful People,” shared what faith means to her in an increasingly-secular world.
Filed under Activism and Peace Work, Announcement, Introduction, Lifestyle, Social affairs
Thoughts on Passover
The traditional Passover Seder Haggadah is not just for Jews—it will move spiritual progressives both secular and religious.
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Thoughts on Passover by Shari Motro
How does one leave home in peace?
Read metaphorically, the Exodus story—which Jews will retell during the upcoming Passover holiday—offers some clues to answering this most universal of questions.
Moses is born a Hebrew slave, but he is raised in Pharaoh’s palace. The setup is an exaggerated version of something familiar to many—to anyone who has wondered whether some cosmic accident landed her with the wrong family; anyone who has felt uncomfortable about the privileges she accrued by virtue of her birth; anyone who at some point experienced her parents as oppressive or narrow. Egypt, in Hebrew, means “narrow place.”
Moses’ initial reaction is the classic teenage rebellion—it’s rash, it’s risky, and it gets him into deep trouble. After witnessing an Egyptian beating a Hebrew slave, Moses kills the Egyptian, buries him in the sand, and runs. He tries to disappear, to start over. In Midian, Moses marries a local and has a son who he names Gershom, Stranger (“For I was a stranger in a strange land,” he says).
But running away doesn’t work. At some point, those of us who leave unfinished business behind are called to return. For Moses, the call starts as a fire, a fire that burns but doesn’t consume. The burning bush is a fire that can be neither put out nor ignored.
Miniature ofrom Folio 8r of the Syriac Bible of Paris shows Moses before Pharaoh. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Moses goes home to face the conflict he ran from. His task is to negotiate, to mediate between the slaves and Pharaoh, both of whom symbolize aspects of every human soul. He will eventually leave again, but in a different way. Leaving home in peace requires acknowledging the naysaying voice within. Moses can’t leave Egypt for good until his ability to dream his own future overwhelms his fear, until he stands before Pharaoh and speaks his truth.
Yes, I killed the Egyptian.
Yes, I’ve turned my back on you. Look, I’m not you. I’m a different person.
Yes, I want to leave.
Will you let me go?
Pharaoh says no, as parents do. Sometimes parents say no even when they know that eventually they will relent, that everybody will be better off when they do. Nevertheless, some inexplicable force compels them to dig in their heels, to wield their power while they still have it.
Of course, Pharaoh is an extreme example. This is the point of archetypal myths: they use extremes to illustrate lessons that apply to us all. Pharaoh symbolizes attachment—the eminently human tendency to resist change. The plagues are the suffering that results from attachment. Each plague is a message from Pharaoh’s higher self, like a body that keeps getting sick until you listen to it.
For Moses, the message of the plagues may be this: Your blossoming into your most radiant self is not the true cause of suffering—Pharaoh’s suffering, your own suffering, anybody’s. The cause of suffering is resistance.
After the tenth and most devastating plague—the death of the firstborn—Pharaoh finally relents, and the Israelites leave “in haste.” They leave so quickly they can’t wait for their bread to rise; this is why we eat unleavened bread on Passover. What’s the message here?
When the force holding you back finally relents—go. GO. Don’t be scared; don’t feel guilty; don’t hang around saying long goodbyes. It’s time.
And if Pharaoh follows at your heels and drowns in the pursuit, don’t rejoice. According to one interpretation, this is what God said to the angels who sang as the Egyptian chariots were swallowed by the sea:
“Don’t rejoice, for they are my creatures too.”
And yet, the texts are also filled with the opposite, with joy.
Anyone who has succeeded in breaking free knows this tension well. Our glee is tinged with something else, with the sinking recognition that our naysayers’ grief is our grief. And… surviving requires not allowing ourselves to drown in their tears. Surviving is rejoicing despite their pain.
Somehow, on the other side of it all, there is a place where all is forgiven, where the narrowness of our birth canal—every trauma, every grief—becomes a source of love and gratitude, where zero-sum gives way to abundance, where Pharaoh and Moses are one.
I’ve seen only glimpses of this place. For me, this is the Promised Land.
– by Shari Motro
Shari Motro is a professor of law at the University of Richmond.
From the Sikkum Special Seder Messages for Passover
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Preceding posts:
Commemorating the escape from slavery
The Evolution Of Passover–Past To Present
Passover and Liberation Theology
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Additional reading:
- Deliverance and establishement of a theocracy
- Moving around looking for a homeland
- 14 Nisan a day to remember #5 The Day to celebrate
- The Song of The Lamb #7 Revelation 15
- Materialism, would be life, and aspirations
- Emotional pain and emotional deadness
- Meaning of life
- Suffering
- Offer in our suffering
- God helper and deliverer
- God’s instruction about joy and suffering
- God’s promises to us in our suffering
- Suffering – through the apparent silence of God
- Suffering continues
- Suffering leading to joy
- Surprised by time in joys & sufferings
- 1 -15 Nisan
- Day of remembrance coming near
- Another way looking at a language #4 Ancient times
- Self inflicted misery #5 A prophet without a hedge around him
- The Advent of the saviour to Roman oppression
- Seven days of Passover
- On the first day for matzah
- A new exodus and offering of a Lamb
- Children ate the OT passover so why not NT bread and wine?
- High Holidays not only for Israel
- Around the feast of Unleavened Bread
- Festival of Freedom and persecutions
- 14-15 Nisan and Easter
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Related articles
- The Ancient Egyptians Worshiped Sheep (acquiescere9.wordpress.com) > The Ancient Egyptians Worshiped SheepUltimately, the Torah tells us, God commanded the Israelites to take a lamb or a kid for each household. They were to hold it for four days, from the tenth until the fourteenth of the first month, and slaughter it on the fourteenth. This was done in Egypt, despite the Egyptians’ religious beliefs. To this day Jews commemorate this event, calling the Sabbath preceding Passover Shabbat Hagadol
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Torah Parshat Va’eira Exodus 6:2-9:3
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Parshah Yitro Exodus 18:1-20:23 - This Passover 2012, Remember (Again!) – It’s Not Your Religion That Matters, But Your Humanity (nobodysview.wordpress.com)
A drop of wine is spilled with each recitation in memory of those who suffered in Egypt…not the Jews, but the Egyptians.I guess it’s a solemn reminder that when blood of any kind is spilled, we all lose a little something. Then, it is important to remember that when there are those in bondage around the world, we ourselves (no matter our religion) are in some way in bondage.
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It’s 5773, but the Message of Passover 2013 Is Still as Strong as Ever
There were wanderings, new beginnings, divisions, and some heartache, but in the end, the destination was reached. - Preparing for Passover: Six Ways to Prepare (coffeeshoprabbi.com)
Traditionally, Jews spend the month after Purim preparing for Passover. A lot of the holiday is in the preparation: the seder and the week that follows are the fruit of what we’ve put in the month before. I thought it might be helpful to look at the various ways we prepare for Passover. If this is your first year observing Passover, don’t try to do everything at once. Choose one or two, and get all that you can out of them.
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Passover is the festival of telling the story about “deliverance from Egypt.” If you are truly to experience deliverance, it helps to notice from what you need deliverance. Spend some time, between now and Passover, thinking about your own personal Egypt(s). The name for Egypt in Hebrew is “Mitzrayim,” which also means “a narrow place, a tight spot.” Questions to ask myself: Where in my life am I stuck? To what am I a slave? In what parts of my life am I Pharaoh? Do I depend on the slavery of others? What would freedom look like, in any of these cases? What would freedom cost? What is freedom worth? - Who Would You Rather Listen To? (spinningrabbi.com)
One of those valuable lessons of this remembering, is this – G-d freed the Jews so that they were no longer physical slaves, yet they were still slaves. Now they were their own Pharaoh and the slavery was of the self-imposed spiritual and emotional variety. Once physically free, it was up to them to free themselves spiritually and emotionally.This lesson applies to all people who are blessed to live in freedom today. This means that the only one who can free you now, is you. It’s up to you to free yourself from your personal Egypt. - Christian Bale as Moses in ‘Exodus’: First Look (PHOTO) (news.moviefone.com)
Empire has our first look at Ridley Scott’s “Exodus,” and judging by the impressive construction going on behind Christian Bale‘s Moses, this Biblical tale should be epic indeed.The film follows the story of Moses, abandoned as a baby and adopted by Egyptian royalty, only to hear the voice of God as he grows older and ultimately lead the Israelite slaves into the promised land. In this image, Moses witnesses the suffering of his people at the hands of the Pharaoh. - Pharaoh’s Overthrow (brakeman1.com)
There were six hundred thousand men, besides women and children. God caused a pillar of cloud to go before them in the daytime, to show them the way they were to take, and at night He led them by a pillar of fire.After the children of Israel had left Egypt, Pharaoh, though his kingdom had been nearly destroyed for his disobedience to God, was angry with himself for having let them go. So he gathered together a great army, and pursued them to where they were encamped, in the wilderness by the Red Sea. - The Ancient Egyptians Worshiped Sheep (menashedovid1.wordpress.com)> The Ancient Egyptians Worshiped Sheep
the Torah tells us, God commanded the Israelites to take a lamb or a kid for each household. They were to hold it for four days, from the tenth until the fourteenth of the first month, and slaughter it on the fourteenth. This was done in Egypt, despite the Egyptians’ religious beliefs. To this day Jews commemorate this event, calling the Sabbath preceding Passover Shabbat Hagadol… - Passover Primer (boiseweekly.com)
If you’ve walked through a Treasure Valley Albertson’s recently, you’ve probably noticed a table piled high with unfamiliar items–boxes of Streit’s Potato Pancakes, giant packages of Yehuda Passover Matzos, bottles of Kedem Sparkling Concord Grape Juice and murky jars of Mrs. Adler’s Gefilte Fish filled with bobbing, grayish lumps. - Now Faith Is (faithrises.com)
Through faith he kept the passover, and the sprinkling of blood, lest He that destroyed the firstborn should touch them. - Max, Hannah and some frogs: Kids’ books bring new friends (jta.org)
Frolicking frogs and magical matzah balls are featured in this season’s crop of new Passover books for children that are sure to engage, inform, entertain and inspire.David Adler, author of the hugely popular early reader “Cam Jansen” series, offers “The Story of Passover.” Adler is highly acclaimed for his straightforward narrative style in non-fiction books, including dozens on Jewish holidays.
He says he likes to appeal to readers of any Jewish background, whether from traditional, observant Jewish families or those who are interested in learning about Passover.
Filed under Being and Feeling, History, Religious affairs
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Belgian Biblestudents - Belgische Bijbelstudenten
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Bijbelvorsers
Christadelphians
Guestspeaker
Immanuel Verbondskind
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Vragensteller - Inquirer
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Success Inspirers' World
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