Shabbat Mevarchim opening to the Summer-holiday period

Members of Israeli summer youth programs eCamp celebrating Shabbat. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It is nice that we do have longer days, Sun going under much later than in most part of they ear.

Tonight we are going into the Shabbat Mevarchim (“the Shabbat that blesses” the new month) when many all over the world shall recite a special prayer blessing the Rosh Chodesh (“Head of the Month”) of upcoming month of Tammuz, which falls on Shabbat and Sunday of next week.

We are thankful that the Most High Elohim beseeches to renew this period of time

“for life and for peace, for gladness and for joy, for deliverance and for consolation.”

Him giving us now the warmth of the sun, enabling us to enjoy the beauty of the flowers, shrubs and trees in their full glory.

After the students their examinations many shall be able to find a month of renewal of energy. From this week onwards one week after the other many people shall go on holiday, either staying at home to take some rest away from work or to go at some place to enjoy themselves, seeing other cultures or just to enjoy themselves on a beach or in the mountains.

Though we may mourn over the destruction of the Holy Temple and the breakdown in our relationship with God that this represents, we may find now some more time to take our bible to study in it. Having not to go to work for some days or weeks we not only have some more leisure time, but should find extra time to study God‘s Word.

This Sabbath we may find the opening to a period of meditation, contemplation and letting our mind and body recover from the stress at work and from the daily worries. It is the start to a period of being grateful for the blessings we receive from our Divine Maker, Him making it possible to earn our money for making daily living not to difficult. At the same time, it is also the Sabbath that “blesses” and calls forth the qualities of the coming weeks characterized by extra quality time to get in intimacy with God.

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Preceding articles

Summermonths and consumerism

Holiday making and dreaming

Going on holiday is… silence in your head

Home-stayers and their to do list

2016 Summer holiday

Allow yourself a chill-out day

Holiday time reading time

Family happiness and little things we do

Luxury

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Additional reading

1. Holiday tolerance
2. Self-development, self-control, meditation, beliefs and spirituality

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• Being holy

Are you right down in the dumps? Stop digging!

Are you right down in the dumps? Stop digging!

Every one of us is confronted with painful events:  unexpected job loss, a friend who betrays you, a partner that cheats on you, someone close who commits suicide. It can shake us up considerably and force us to stand still.

To dig is good
Preferably with people whom you trust and who love you. To stand still with them and to get down to the bottom and confront the pain can be healing and enriching. Because at the bottom of the pit lie all the answers you can only find there. Often they are hidden treasures that determine how – and how quickly- you get out of the dumps.

But what if the dumps are your place of residence ?
There are people who never recover from a tragedy and remain a shadow of who they were the rest of their lives. They live in the dumps. There they dig endlessly, because one way or another it protects them from the pain of life.
On the other hand there are people who – however deep they are in trouble – they find a way out. They emerge stronger, fuller, richer. They experience that…

There is no darkness without light!

Lev Isaakovitsj Sjestov / Lev Isaakovich Shestov at a young age

There are questions that remain unanswered. There is injustice that gives us a feeling of desolation. There is pain we cannot be reconciled with. In the middle of all of this the philosopher Lev Sjestov wants to impress on us ‘that he who is lost in eternity and to himself – and is in the mercy of immeasurable despair – is capable of paying attention to the ultimate reality’.
 
And this miracle happens within us. It points without doubt and irrevocably to our heart. That is where it happens. From the heart we can raise from any dump, any grave or death because life does not let go of us, light does not give up on us, because right across everything… we are carried through.

We wish you to meet people you can draw on.

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Dutch original by Bond zonder Naam: Zit je in de put? Stop dan met graven!

Please do find additional reading:

1. Tenderness and kindness are not signs of weakness and despair
2. If there is bitterness in the heart
3. Walking through the valley of the shadow of death
4. Hope begins in the dark
5. Some one or something to fear #6 Faith in the Most High
6. Getting fate in your change to positiveness
7. Let us not forget it was God who chose us
8. Man’s plans prevailed by God’s purpose
9. God doesn’t call the qualified
10. Trusting, Faith, Calling and Ascribing to Jehovah #17 Sorts of prayers
11. Sow and harvests in the garden of your heart
12. A good idea to halt all activity for one hour some day
13. We should use the Bible every day
14. Rest thy delight on Jehovah
15. Being thankful
16. 20 Best Gratitude Quotes
17. All I want is peace!!!
18. A cheerful heart filled of hope good medicine
19. Open your heart
20. Keep your heart on the right path
21. The chief function of the body is to carry the brain around
22. Picking Stones

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