family

Will You Wear this Crown?

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Society today is an uncomfortable, if not outright frightening, atmosphere in which to find one’s bearings. Nearly everybody comes with the excuse of parents who were dysfunctional, and so we all were neglected. I do not say this tongue in cheek. I see the world spinning out of control, and all of us long for a safe place to grow and prosper. But growth is hard to find while constantly dodging emotional turmoil, either our own or others around us. Most likely both. It seems people have little opportunity to live in peace. The daily struggle just to survive is more than most can cope with, thus the field of psychology blooms and grows, but is psychology the answer? Cultivate yourself. Stop looking to others for love and approval. Well said, but there still is something lacking… 

Does anyone really get well doing that? Or do we produce a bunch of independent automatons? Needs are still there and nobody is filling them. We make mistakes as we live our lives, and family is the first to point the finger at how we have messed up. Children blame parents for their own difficulties and they are right, except when you look at the parenting that the parents had and left a vacant hole in their hearts which led them to be the way they were with their children. 

The Bible talks about the sins of the fathers passing down the to third and fourth generation, well that means everything has mounted up upon this generation to the point where we are fighting everything that we inherited and the animosity of those in our world who also carry the same burden and perhaps blame us for their own discomfort. Is there any hope? I hear people say, if only I had a million dollars so I could live comfortably and not need people! If money could fix the problem, we would have a lot of well-adjusted millionaires, but we see people like Howard Hughes locking himself up in his ivory tower suite! The quest for money is similar to the addiction to  alcohol, drugs or any other addiction. It feels good to succumb  for the moment but then you must pay dearly in emotional backwash! And the money game is about being on the hamster wheel, never having enough!

Someone I knew once asked me if I could be happy living off the interest from a well invested million dollars. At the time, it came to over $50,000 per year. That is the interesting question. And no, apparently money does not satisfy because it often leads to endless chasing after more and more. 

At this time of chaos, where is our Creator? It feels to some that He has gone away and left us to our own devices. Surely not! If we don’t find Him, maybe it is because we are not taking the time to connect with Him? If we never call out to Him, there is no way he will impose on us. He respects our free will. Can we believe that when all hell breaks loose? Do we blame him for the chaos in the world? Or can we be happy even if life does not go as planned? –That sometimes bad things come to us regardless of whether our Maker is in the picture or not, but having Someone to help shoulder the burden just might make it possible to endure. Right? 

When Moses spoke his last words to Israel before they crossed the Jordan, he told them:

Deu 31: “6 Be strong and of good courage, fear not, nor be affrighted at them: for YHVH thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.” After 3000 plus years, is this still true? 

Mal 3: “6 For I, YHVH, change not; therefore ye, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed.”

But how do we disentangle ourselves from looking to people and from our sick dependence upon close relatives, (wives, husbands, children, parents, siblings). When we observe others carefully, we realize that  they are as broken or more so than we are and if they don’t know God, they won’t be able to give us a thing other than a temporary fix. But there are always consequences of getting a quick fix. When they give, they expect something in return—maybe more than we can give them. And then we may all find ourselves blaming one another.  Blame is not a game that works because it always comes back to accuse us. If we place the ball in the right court, so to speak-our happiness in Heaven’s court, then we will make it through. 

Psalm 138: 8: “YHVH will perfect that which concerns me, Your mercy, O YHVH endures forever; Do not forsake the works of Your hands.” 

Zechariah 3 speaks of  Joshua the high priest, a historical figure at the time of the return from Babylon. I believe there is a message beyond the history of those times. Joshua stands before the Eternal as awaiting judgment. We see the Satan standing at his right side to accuse him. YHWH tells the attendants to take away Joshua’s filthy garments. I believe these garments represent the faults and mistakes that  we have committed over our lives and that continually dog our steps, the adversary (whether this be close friends, or relatives or our reputation in society) is quick to accuse us. But, in the text, the guilty garments are removed. Verse 4 says Joshua’s “guilt” is removed–the guilt of Joshua’s past failures. Does this mean that none can accuse him now? Probably not, but perhaps this is about restoration of Joshua’s self-image, which comes with the realization of God’s forgiveness! 

Proverbs 28:13: “He that covers his sins shall not prosper; but whoso confesses and forsakes them shall obtain mercy.”

So then what happens to Joshua? After the filthy garments (his sins and mistakes) are removed, his heavenly attendants cloth him in priestly garments and place a royal crown  on his head. He is commissioned to keep God’s charge and if he does, he will rule over the House of God and move among the other priests which he sees sitting before him. This is only a part of the Biblical story, but there is an application to this story for each of us today.  

When we realize that our filthy garments are removed, then we will be  immune to the accusations of others. That does not mean we can lean on them ever again for approval. If we have God’s approval, we need nothing more! We may not rule the courts of the Most High, but we can rule our own lives without regrets. 


Hab 3: “17 For though the fig-tree shall not flourish, Neither shall fruit be in the vines; The labor of the olive shall fail, And the fields shall yield no food; The flock shall be cut off from the fold, And there shall be no herd in the stalls:  18 Yet I will rejoice in YHVH, I will joy in the God of my salvation.  19 YHVH, the Lord, is my strength; And he makes my feet like hinds’ feet, And will make me to walk upon my high places. “

Ariella

Hello Darkness and Now What?

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Nothing is the same as we once knew it. I remember a common-sense world where outcomes were generally predictable, where the good was exalted and evil was shunned, where crime was punished—Where boys were boys and girls were girls.

But nothing is the same anymore and I wonder when exactly we stepped into this new reality when did that which was black is now seen as white?

Today we have new vocabulary, words which some of us over 50 years of age can’t quite wrap our heads around. Our logic doesn’t work anymore either. When it is unusually cold in part of the world, it is claimed that this is the result of climate change. I find it interesting how global warming became climate change! Could it be that too many of us pointed out the illogical theory that too much ice and snow came about by the earth heating up?

Now boy babies can choose to be girl babies because they feel feminine at three years old. My six-year old daughter used to put makeup and ribbons on my two-year old son, but they were just playing and I never took them anywhere to decide if the boy was actually a girl. It was child’s play, nothing more.

In universities racial proportionality is the determining factor for those who attend, not intelligence, acumen or hard work! Football stars don’t have to show up to Economics or Basic Algebra more than once or twice in a semester and they still graduate at the end of the term.

We hear across the mainstream media that Jews are guilty of genocide for exerting efforts to defend their country and their personal right to exist. This generation doesn’t even know the meaning of the word genocide. But what do I know? The meanings of words have changed, so get used to it!

So maybe it is better to sit back and wait for this generation to destroy itself? Unfortunately, many of us have children or grandchildren that are caught up in the new mentality. What to do about it? Is there anything? Shall we all beg a ride on a UFO for a few light-years with the promise to return when the earth is in balance? The way it looks, a good balance is not going to happen, at least not in our lifetime, unless people do something about it, and soon! How? That is the difficult part!

So if the solution of leaving the planet is not feasible, then how do we deal with it? Do we go out and fight? Re-educate the woke crowd? Do we wrap ourselves in a surreal world—put on rainbow glasses and just pretend we are back in the 60s? Or worse yet, shall we all like lemmings go jump off a cliff?

I must contend that some rethinking is going to be necessary. We have a choice, accept that which we cannot change and stop complaining. Or a better way in my mind is to get out and do something about it—whether or not it is easy or possible. It seems improbable, but is anyone trying? There are some. And can we somehow get on board with those who are fighting it? Is crying out on social media enough? How about talking to real people? And what if they will not listen to us? Do we have enough confidence to keep pushing when people tell us we are wrong? Would a civil war put things right?

Upheaval–that is what has always changed the world. None are alive today that remember the attitudes that were prevalent when the first airplane came on the scene. 200 years ago the use of electricity was unknown, but it was developed and eventually made the world functional as it is today with extensive communication networks across the globe. Wireless mobile phones long ago all but replaced wall phones. Are cell phones indispensable? Communication as we know it is impossible without them. Some of these things show progress as we look back at them. But and the question looms large: what progress, what is the trade off? Though we can’t live without them, did they, somehow replace values that were attached to simple things and simple times? Were times more meaningful when you walked a few blocks to buy a quart of milk at a friendly corner store than charging up your electric car to drive across town to a super Walmart? Has anything been lost?

A logical mind will as good in these things for the most part, but there are other things. How do we value virtual reality—does it change anything? Does it make us see things that do not exist? And what about gender–can women really become men? Is it a crime to kill murderers? Is social media the new education system? Does fake news impact us and steer us where we are only automatons doing the will of whoever has the loudest voice? Does 2 plus 2 even add up to 4 anymore? What is real and what is not real? Does a person have the right to judge his own physical health and refuse medicine that he does not want?

So, are we guilty of misjudging this generation? Is there anything that shows progress now? Is there anything solid to base reality on? Are there no absolutes—things that do not change over time or things that will continue to hold their value for the future? We need to know what is real, what will stand the test of time and what needs to be incinerated. And of course as we begin to burn their books, so to speak, may we not destroy everything! Clearly it is time to think clearly and to place responsible, intelligent and wise people at the helm of the world’s future!

Thank G-d for those who fight for the right, the logical, and the true. Thank G-d for those who hold principles of justice in this chaotic world. Kudos to them and may those of us who listen and support them not give up hope. They may well bring a golden age where peace reigns and a Messiah can lead his people to better things! Will we roll up our sleeves and be a part? Or will we sit back and wring our hands as we watch the world careening off course towards oblivion?

Yours for better times,

Ariella