SEASONS - NUMBERING OUR DAYS

(Written by Sheila Gail Landgraf on 4/27/2012)

Preface:

This is one of the oddest short stories I have ever written for the blog; all the way back in April 27, 2012, way before I even knew my grandson; Vinny.  My daughter married Vinny's Dad when Vinny was six.  

The boy I imagined in the story was named David, but other than that; the way I described him is EXACTLY like Vinny, in every detail.  I'm pretty amazed at this now; looking back.  I also saw this same child, who looked exactly like Vinny, in a vision once during a time of prayer.  The vision I had reassured me of  a time of happiness coming in the future for all who were concerned with him and in his life.  I had no knowledge of the child at that point either! 

So this story grows more precious to me every year as time goes by and I often ponder all the different layers of what it truly means.  The rest of the words from this point forward are what I wrote back in 2012:

2012 Preface:

You know, I do not have any grandchildren yet, but I yearn for some.

I believe that all good things come stepping softly into our lives in God's good time; and I'm patiently waiting for that day.  This may sound a little strange to some of you, but sometimes I imagine that I have a grandson.  He is about four years old in these little imaginations that come from somewhere in my brain, and I'm not sure of his name, but in this story I'll call him David.  He has thick curly blonde hair and very blue eyes and pale skin.  He is a very bright little boy, and I imagine that we always spend a lot of time talking about the most important things in life.  

Please don't think I've lost my mind now; I've been told that this phenomenon happens often to writers, especially the most creative ones.  It will be interesting to see if this sweet little boy really happens.  I certainly do hope so!

TEACHING OUR CHILDREN TO NUMBER THEIR DAYS

The sun was slipping into the night sky.  It was that magical time just before dark when the working day is done and you are preparing to relax and enjoy your family to the fullest with a nice quiet family dinner.  David and I were sharing time together, puttering around the kitchen.  We had spent most of the afternoon in my kitchen baking cookies with the back door positioned wide open letting the sunlight shine in through the glass storm door so we could monitor all that was going on with the cat out on our back deck.  We also observed him through the full kitchen windows.  David loved the cat and we had named him Captain Jack.  David had to know everything that was going on with Captain Jack.   So, I was letting them spend some time together on the deck while I was preparing a fresh spring salad for our table.  David had come inside without me realizing it. 

 “ Grandma, what is an Omer?” asks the inquisitive child tugging at my shirt and looking up at me for an answer. 

An Omer is a way of measuring an amount of grain.”  I put it into terms that I thought he would understand, not elaborating too much so as not to lose him in the details.  


“Sort of like using this measuring cup you cook with?”  He pointed to the one on our kitchen counter.  

“Yes, sort of like that.  From Passover until Pentecost the ancient People of God would bring their barley crops to God as an offering, and they would measure it to be the size of an omer. ”   I pulled a quart of milk out of the refrigerator and said, "It would be about the size of two of these."  

"I could drink two of those in one day Grandma."
   
"Well David, that was part of the theory around the Omer.  It was supposed to equal the measurement of enough food for just one day.  Remember me telling you the story about God sending the Manna from Heaven to the People of Israel?"  He nodded.  "The amount they gathered to feed themselves for one day in the wilderness would be one Omer." 

“Oh – okay.”  He seemed satisfied for a few minutes, taking a short pause from the midst of his never ending trail of questions.  "David, I am proud that you are thinking about these things.  You are asking me good questions!”  He nodded at me, glad that I seemed pleased, and reached down to pet our cat who was passing by and  rubbing against his legs. 

“What do you think this kitty thinks about Grandma?” 

"Oh – I don’t know, but kitties do not think like you and me, David, they think different.  God made people and God made animals.  God made us to love one another, and God made us to love and take care of our animals,  but we are made to think and live different from our animals.”

“But doesn’t the kitty think and live just like me?”  

“No, dear.  We make decisions and animals are instinctive.  You see, animals live for the moment they are in. They don't remember the events of an hour ago, let alone the things that happened  last week."

I could see we needed to explore this further.  "You know how you upset the kitty when you pulled his tail yesterday?”  

Laughing at the memory, and knowing he had been caught, he looks up at me with that mischievous little grin.  “Well, he doesn’t remember that at all.  You and I would remember such a thing, but look how he just purrs and slips up in your lap for you to pet him.  He doesn’t remember.”  

I could see the child thinking this over.
  
“ You and I know that you are four, but the kitty doesn’t have any concept of how old or young he is.  He wouldn’t be able to celebrate his birthday, because he is totally unaware of anything to do with growing up and getting older each day. 

“No birthdays!  I’m glad I’m not a cat!”  

“Now it was my time to smile.  I remembered last year when he asked me every day for six months how long it would be until he turned four.  

“This little kitty just takes every day as it comes, they all are the same to him.  He appreciates everyone that he meets, no matter how nice or mean they are to him. "

I pondered my own words.  Hmmmm....." Sometimes I wish we COULD think like that.”

“Yeah, I think that would be nice too, only I don’t think I could be as nice to people who were mean to me as those who gave me chocolate cake.”  

'Right!  God made us to think about things like that, but God made the animals without any judgmental behaviors at all; and He designed them to live only in the present moment.  They could never plan to be at the ball park at 3 o'clock on Saturday afternoon.  They just are not made to think like that.  They always enjoy whatever is going on right now, but they can't think past that moment or even remember the things that they were enjoying yesterday.  

“So, Grandma, do you mean if they hit a home run and it was the play that won the game, they wouldn’t even think about it the next day?”  He looked astonished. 

“Not at all.  They would never think about it again.  You know how you can pick me out in the crowd when it is your time to bat in T-ball?”  

.”“Yes – I can always see you, in the stands every time I look up.”  

“Well, this cat can’t recognize his mother, or sister, or brother for how they are related to him.  Once he has grown they all will be nothing but just another cat to him.  If he passed by them, say at the concession stand at the ball park, Captain Jack would just think they were the same as any other cat.”  

“And you know how granddaddy planned this house for us, and built it good and strong because he wanted to protect us from the rain and cold, and he wanted us to have a safe, dry place to sleep and eat and play?”

“Yes…”

“Well, cats can’t plan things like that.  They just have to live through whatever happens. “

“Oh.”  

His already round eyes grew rounder and wider.  “Wow, I’m glad I’m not a cat.  That sounds too sad.”

He kept playing silently, but I could tell he was pondering the things we had spoken about in his sweet young heart, and I could almost see the wheels of his active little brain turning and spinning out his ideas about the subject.

Funny, I was thinking about these things too.  I found myself reflecting about something I had been trying to put into effect in my own daily life.  I had been trying to be very consistent about "living in the present moment only," never looking back, not looking forward either, just BEING where I was when whatever was going on around me happened.  I wondered why I had decided to start doing this.  Was it all good?  Had this theory seemed acceptable to me because of my own human wounds from a broken life?

 Had my past not been healed, and was I too afraid of asking God to show me His plans for the future? 
 
Was I putting so much emphasis on my wounds and fears that I was using them as an excuse to cop out of a balanced life?  

I serve a God who heals and a God who tells me never to be afraid.  Forgetting the past and not planning for the future would not be the way God had ordered me to live.   I was positive that the basic theory of this "living in the moment only"  was a good thing and it just felt right.  It had a proper place of importance in my time that required godly discernment; but like everything else in life, it could get out of balance if not tempered with a little remembering of the past and a little planning for the future.  All three things should work together for a healthy balanced life.
  
I treasured this epiphany in my kitchen while making salad.  I was thankful that a simple conversation with a child could help me to regain a proper perspective on how to live.  I gave myself permission to stop  listening to the shallow voices of the world, that had almost tempted me into the danger of slipping into a place of not wanting to put forth the extra effort to remember and plan as well as enjoy the moment of the present day. 

Isn't this what counting the Omer was really about?



In celebrating the Passover Seder together as a family, we had remembered the past.  We stopped on that day to refresh our minds and hearts with  the moments of the past, to saturate our senses with God's beautiful stories of the history of His people.  We stopped to go to the cross with The Lamb of God, getting the full picture of His suffering, and remembering what He had done for us in this season of His time on earth.  

We felt the thrill of  being liberated from our own personal slavery as we read about how God's people were delivered from Egyptian slavery.  We reveled in it.  We were reminded of our lives before we knew Christ as our Most Holy Messiah, and we wondered and marveled at how He transformed us from living in the bondage of sin into a life of freedom. 

As I looked at David, growing every day, I realized I had some growing to do myself;  I too had to become more aware of how God intended for His people to live and think.  After all, He had given us this great gift that made us higher than the animals of whom we were to watch over and care for.  We could actually think these things through and act on what we believed to be right every day as we walked through our lives.  


I savored this moment of realization that my grandson was learning, growing, changing into a youngster who ponders and asks questions.  His learning was teaching me so much!  

With new found discernment and wisdom, I let myself live in this present tense with a refreshed gladness and a thankful heart.  It was a luxury I quite enjoyed.  Yet, even now, I was planning for him in my mind, praying for his future to be bright and good.   It was a good moment where God was revealing this blessing to me, and I held it close and treasured it in my heart, knowing that it would bubble over one day in the future and bless someone else because we had lived this day.

"David, are you ready to count the Omer?”

His eyes lit up with excitement.  “Yes, Grandma!, Oh, will you let me mark through the day on the calendar, please?”

“First we must say our prayer.  What day are we on now?  We must stop and consider where we are in time.”

Since the second day of Unleavened Bread, we had been counting the days together and reciting a special blessing each day of this seven-week journey from Passover till Pentecost, just like the Children of God did in the Exodus as they moved out of bondage to the Egyptians and inched toward Mount Sinai and received the Torah.  

Each day I told my precious grandson more of the stories of their journey.  He was always anxious to hear what happened next in the great adventures of the People of God.  I could rest assured that my grandson was in line for some awesome adventures from God himself.  I reveled in sharing the experience of this old, old tradition with him.  I knew it was helping him learn to count, to observe the days of the weeks on the calendar, but even more, I knew it was giving him spiritual formation for the years to come when we shared the prayers and the stories. This time with David blessed me in so many ways.  

I was learning, through the experience of teaching my grandson, that there is a time for everything; a time to remember, a time to be. and a time to plan.   

I was realizing that the story of The People of God taught me that there was a time to obtain freedom, a time to believe, and a time to learn how to manage that freedom wisely and correctly and put those beliefs into daily actions.

I could see it clearly in these little moments in our home together.  

I could see it clearly in the death, burial and resurrection of Christ.  

I could see it clearly in Passover, Unleavened Bread and Pentecost.  

Time marches on and on and God keeps it well for us.

We keep remembering; we keep living; we keep hoping.  

We know that counting these days ultimately points us to the giving of God’s Holy Spirit.  
In examining our lives as we go through the days we know we are about to receive the ultimate gift in abundance.  It is a gift that will fill our hearts with love, compassion and worship.  The Holy Spirit is how we are able to prepare for our future. The  whole house of God also must be built up through the people who now make up His body.  The Holy Spirit leads us with discernment and love, grace and mercy.  

We aren’t like the cat; we can think, and hope and remember and relate.  Because we are higher than the animals, God shows us how to count our days, and instructs us to make the most of them, to aspire to be better people in the future than we were in the past. 
When Pentecost is fully come we will be offering up the wheat harvest.  It is a better blessing, a higher blessing.
  
We anticipate this higher thing as we count the days and go through the necessary things in order to reach the places we want and need to be.

After Passover we tend to the necessary things, the tedious part of our humanity, the parts of us that grow like a crop of barley.  
    
All things come together in God’s good order.  

The Omer measures out the barley until Pentecost.  At Pentecost there will be two loaves of wheat waved before God; two loaves of the higher blessings offered up for The Kingdom of God in holy worship.  They represent the firstfruits of the best crop, the part of the Church and Israel together that represents us rising above our human natures into God's holiness. 
  
This is our hope that He will turn us from people who often only behave like animals eating common barley, into people who behave according to the image of God and and feed on the wheat of The Word. 

My heart is filled with wonder at how God's Word has provided a patterned, detailed map for us to live out our time on this earth.  He had given us full instructions in the scriptures, and He provided for seasons and times for us to stop and ponder these things in our hearts.  I loved each season and each of it's delightful aspects.    

Looking at my sweet grandson playing with our cat, I truly pondered that the sweet little kitty could not remember how we had found him; abandoned on the highway.  We had picked him up and brought him into a safe home where he would be well fed and loved.  We had given him a special name.  He was totally oblivious to all of this, simply lazing around in the sunshine all day long.  He didn’t even realize what a blessing had been bestowed upon him or think of any of the misery he had left behind. 

 Could I sometimes be guilty of living the same way?   

I was glad that God had given us the ability to remember things, and I was glad that we were teaching our grandson to ponder the changes that God brought about and allowed in his own journey through life.  

God in His Majesty always has this way of bringing the past, present and future together.  He connects the dots of our days.   So, we keep remembering the past.  We keep living in the moment.  We keep  faithfully counting the 49 days between Passover and Pentecost and marking them off on the calendar with anticipation toward our future.  

May each new year find us in a more sacred place, and may each of our lives be a more acceptable sacrifice in the service of God, as we grow in the holiness of God and teach our children to do the same.    

SEASONS - COUNTING THE OMER WITH A BAPTIST TWIST

(Written by Sheila Gail Landgraf)

Even though I grew up Baptist but now lean toward all things original and Hebraic, I have come to realize that so many Messianic and Hebraic thoughts and practices were taught to me by those dedicated Baptist Sunday School teachers and preachers who were very serious about their knowledge of the scriptures and the gospel of salvation.

For instance, back in those days in the little Baptist Church where I attended we constantly sang a song called “Bringing In The Sheaves.”  This song to these sincere Baptist people simply related to bringing a harvest of souls to salvation, which was an absolutely correct metaphor; except that now in my own life, with added Hebraic thoughts, there is also SO MUCH MORE to this story of the sheaves that was not known or taught, or at least never publicly shared in that little baptist congregation.  Yet, you might say in the Baptist Church I received the basics, and since then God has graciously shown me more of the story.  I'm sure there are baptist that receive MORE than the basics in their worship; I am simply relating my own personal experience.  I was young and still learning, but those BASICS were so vital to any more growing I had to do.

Now as  I contemplate the basic truths learned about salvation and the gospel message I was taught as a young girl in the Baptist church, I am able to realize that the “sheaves” referred to in this song were the “first fruits” of the early spring harvest that relate to the Counting of the Omer in the time period between the Jewish Passover Festival and the Jewish Feast of Pentecost.   With this further knowledge, the song really comes alive for me! These things were not specifically taught or talked about a lot the Baptist Church, but this is a Torah commandment given in Leviticus 23: 15 – 16.

 “You shall count seven full weeks from the day after the Sabbath (Passover, The High Sabbath) from the day that you brought the sheaf (omer) of the wave offering (Day of Early First Fruits).  You shall count 50 days to the day after the 7^th Sabbath.  Then you shall present a grain offering of new grain unto the Lord.”

I was taught that it is good and proper to bring offerings unto the Lord, and I was taught that The Holy Spirit descended on Pentecost; but nothing specific was given in the teachings that addressed these particular feast days or this particular offering (The Omer of First Fruits), which appears to be pretty important to God in the scriptures.

So, now that I know this fact; I’ve taken it to heart!  Every year starting on the day of Early First Fruits during the season of Passover I say a prayer/blessing and declare the day of the Counting of the Omer.  It makes that old worn-out and heavily used Baptist scripture of  “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling” found in Philippians 2:12, come alive for me!  This harvesting experience has become the way of the season at our house now, and we (like a lot of other Jewish, Protestant and Catholic believers) count the days up until Pentecost (49 days with Pentecost being the 50^th day)  and participate in The Counting of the Omer.

Studying the Hebraic Feast Days of Passover and Pentecost has made these days that are sandwiched in between them so much more significant in the journey of life.  I never knew until I just stepped out in faith on my own and took God at his word and just started doing what I had learned, how significant these days would be in changing my life and bringing me closer in my walk with God.  It is so helpful, and believe me – I am one of those people who always needs a lot of help.  When the 49 days,(seven weeks) are complete it is customary to say another prayer/blessing: 

“O Compassionate One may He return for us the service of the Temple to its place speedily and in our time. Amen.  Selah.”  

Having the Messianic meaning of “temple” (fits right in with my Baptist upbringing too) I know I am walking around in the temple of the latter days.  Christ dwells in me through The Holy Spirit and my body has become a temple.  It is my place to do all I can to keep my temple holy and acceptable to God so that one day, He will return for me.  

One way that I attempt to do this is to study and meditate on the seven fruits of the Spirit that are focused on by Jewish and Hebraic thinking people along with miscellaneous others (like nondenominational Christians such as myself) during The Counting of the Omer. 

Each day is devoted to learning more of the attributes of God.  At first they seemed a little silly and really strange to me, but the more I studied and listened to God, the more they exactly showed me the things that God wanted me to change about my temple (my body) and my life (my soul and my spirit) so that I could better be of service to Him in His Kingdom as I walked the earth.  These seven attributes which correspond directly to the fruits of The Spirit I studied all my life, starting early in the Baptist church, are really cool.  These seven attributes of God’s Divine Character help us to overcome the attributes of our human nature that are directly opposed to God’s will.  These seven attributes we meditate on in The Counting of the Omer are:   

                         (1)       Chesed – Loving Kindness

                        (2)       Gevurah – Strength and Power

                        (3)       Tiferet – Harmony and Peace

                        (4)       Netzach – Victory and Triumph

                        (5)       Hod – Glory and Majesty

                        (6)       Yesod – Foundation

                        (7)       Malkut – Sovereignty

It seems that each of the seven ancient patriarchs of Israel possessed a portion of these characteristics when we look at their combined lives.  The life of Abraham teaches us Chesed.  The life of Isaac teaches us Gevurah.  The life of Jacob teaches us Tiferet.  The life of Moses teaches us Netzach.  The life of Aaron teaches us Hod.  The life of Joseph teaches us Yesod.  The life of David teaches us Malkut. 

By meditating and dwelling on these seven attributes of God’s character during the seven weeks of counting the omer while waiting for Pentecost, we participate in a process of overcoming that consists of seven stages of spiritual growth and development.  This is God teaching us how to overcome our own human nature that drags us down and keeps us from entering and/or presently living in The Kingdom of God.  These seven attributes of God’s personality offset the seven natures of our own humanity that Paul spoke to us about and called “the works of the flesh.”  (Galations 5:19-21).  Peter listed the characteristics of God for us to help us overcome these when he said:  “Giving all diligence add to your faith virtue (spiritual power), to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness and to brotherly kindness love.  For if these things are yours and abound you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of Our Lord Jesus Christ.  For he who lacks these things is short sighted, even unto blindness and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.  (II Peter 1:5-9). 

How many times did I hear those teachings as I sat a child and a young adult in the Baptist pews?  Over and over they were taught.  Now in counting the omer and meditating on these attributes and trying to overcome daily by putting them into my life as we approach the Day of Pentecost, I am able to begin to live out what I was taught.  Not to say that we will ever be perfect (far from it), only Jesus was perfect!  With His blood covering my sins though, I am better able to open my eyes to the things of life that are worthy and worth while for God’s Kingdom.  I am constantly being “born again” into this new place of where God created me to be! Like a child growing in the mother's womb; I love and need this process and this time.  Only God could have commanded something so perfectly fitting and valuable for teaching a sinner like me to overcome. The scriptures clearly say that those who "overcome" will be the ones who enter the kingdom after they come out of the great tribulation.  Our world is beginning to groan with the pains of tribulation even now, and help for living out these days in a godly manner is welcome food for my soul.

The days of The Counting of The Omer are simply all about growing in the womb of the attributes of God’s character and learning how to better become His child.  This is one of the first process, after salvation, baptism and the receiving of The Holy Spirit, to being "born again."   It is an exciting and fulfilling process that I am thankful to have discovered.  As I go through these days now an old song comes to mind that I haven’t sung in a long time.  I catch myself singing that old hymn called “Bringing In The Sheaves.”

The words are suddenly so much more profound:

“Sowing in the morning, sowing seeds of kindness, Sowing in the noontide and the dewy eve;Waiting for the harvest, and the time of reaping, We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves."

The old song was written in 1874 by a man named Knowles Shaw.  How I would love to have a conversation with him! I am told by what little witnesses there are, that he was inspired by Psalms 126:6; “"He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him." 

“Sowing in the sunshine, sowing in the shadows, Fearing neither clouds nor winter’s chilling breeze;By and by the harvest, and the labor ended, We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves”  

These wonderful old words perfectly describe the journey through life with Christ living inside us and being led by The Holy Spirit.  It paints a beautiful picture of the aspect of overcoming; of accepting the good with the bad and staying faithful until the times of harvest, learning, loving, trusting, rejoicing as we go!

"Going forth with weeping, sowing for the Master,
Though the loss sustained our spirit often grieves;
When our weeping’s over, He will bid us welcome,
We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves."

I guess that little conversation with Mr. Shaw will have to wait until we are in eternity together, but I do intend to look Mr. Shaw up on the other shore!  I also find it amazing how the Spirit of God advertises the kingdom sometimes.  These simple yet profound lyrics that most people do not have a clue how to understand have been used in a million and one movies, tv shows and books.  All of our bad media sources have unknowingly used them in the strangest ways and all of them have from time to time burst out in one big chorus of the songs refrain:

"Bringing in the sheaves, bringing in the sheaves,
We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves;
Bringing in the sheaves, bringing in the sheaves,
We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves."

 One of the most astounding places I’ve found the lyrics repeated was in the southern American writer Eudora Welty’s novel called “Losing Battles.” 

Robert Mitchum sung it as he portrayed The Reverend Harry Powell in “The Night Of The Hunter.” 

A three piece marching band played it in “Batman and The Bomb” scene in 1966 from “The Batman Movie” staring Adam West. 

Granny of the Beverly Hillbillies loved to sing this song! 

In a real ironic twist, Faye Dunaway sings it while bathing Dustin Hoffman in the movie “Little Big Man.” 

The church congregation of The Andy Griffith Show sang it in “The Church Organ” episode, not to mention the time Barney Fife lulled Otis (the town drunk) to sleep by humming it in another episode of the same show.

The children in "The Children of The Corn" sang it before chasing the main character into the corn field, yet another most ironic use of the song.  

Each time I see this song used in a bad way, a way that really wasn't intended and at first think it should have been edited out of a musical, tv show or video, the thought finally occurs to me; this is just God's way of seeping into our bad and bringing His good.  If we don't turn, He comes to us in our dirt and grime and states truth in a way that we will understand it.   It is like he is playing a joke on his mischievous children and teaching them something in a different way, a way that He knows they will relate to and come back to in their minds later after they feel the contracting emotions of that wrong way twist, and turn from the bad because of the good words heard within the bad.

You can see this old song has has been used a million different ways by a million unlikely sources over the years!  

Now I sing it with a Hebraic heart, loving the words that speak to me of a better future in a land where we are always surrounded by the beautiful attributes of God, Our Father and the mercy, grace, love and truth of Yeshua, Our Messiah.

SEASONS - THINKING OF EARLY FIRST FRUITS AND TRANSFORMATION

(Written by Sheila Gail Landgraf)

We have been talking a lot about The Holy Days of God.  I wish to spend the next few days pondering the Hebraic celebration of Early Firstfruits, the day that many begin counting the 50 days of the omer while waiting on Pentecost.  This is how the ancients knew the day. They did not look at a calendar or ask Google as we do today; they counted the omer. 

 Have you ever considered this practice or pondered the wisdom of these days?  The idea of counting each day represents spiritual preparation and anticipation for the giving of the Torah.  It is how the people traditionally prepared their hearts for God to reveal things to them.  

The most important thing to remember about Passover is that Early First Fruits represented the resurrection of Christ.   Early First Fruits is celebrated on the second day of The Seven Days of Unleavened Bread; 3 days after the Passover Seder.  It is one of the seven days of Unleavened Bread during the Passover season.  The three days (Passover plus the first two days of Unleavened Bread) represent the time of Christ in the grave.  On Early First Fruits He is risen!   The Passover Seder tells in symbols of how Jesus died, was buried and rose on the third day.  Hence, it is very important that a family observe the Passover to understand all the details of the history of the people that God used to bring us Messiah and to understand how everything that God did with them led to the sacrifice of the Messiah in our place.  



There is more to the progression of this victory.  The proof was in the Resurrection of Christ.  This is what Early First Fruits symbolizes; the Resurrection.  The barley loaf that is waived on Early First Fruits is symbolic of Jesus and how He was resurrected a victorioius Savior of the the World.  He was the "first" of a full harvest for The Kingdom of God.  This is what one must understand in order to understand the further progression, the giving of the Holy Spirit of God to His people on Pentecost.


The first miracle of Pentecost was with Moses when God gave the Torah.  The Holy Spirit is the personification of the Torah living in God's people.  God told the people to count from Passover to Pentecost from the offering of the early first fruits sheaf of barley grain.  They counted 50 days and that brought them to the day that the wheat harvest was ready to be offered.  The wheat harvest was the larger crop, the most valuable crop of the year.  If the barley crop was good and the wave sheaf was offered first at early first fruits, the latter first fruits offering of the wheat crop would be abundant!  The symbolism is that Jesus was our early first fruit offering, and we are the latter first fruit offering.  These offerings are brought into the storehouse of God and The Kingdom of God thrives!  

You start counting the 50 days on the day of the early first fruits offering.  That is how you know which day is going to be Pentecost.  

This is an ancient custom and a very old tradition of Israel.   Knowing this, I want to simply contemplate the reasons and the original purpose for the custom of "counting the Omer."

The first thought that comes to mind is that this practice, done properly, (without the intention of using it for self gain or magic) helps us to grow as individuals.   The fifty days are days that we should be meditating on our purpose and our growth before God.  

It has been noted by some that the formula for staying young is to always continue growing.  Losing that capacity to continue growing at any age is tragic.  Yet, when you stop to think about it, any time we're not growing and changing, we're not living; we're just existing.  The proper counting of the omer is actually about moving to a spiritual place that is higher than "just existing." It is looking forward to what God is going to do next with us.  It is NOT the practice of elevating ourselves, but it IS the process of letting God work inside of us to bring us to a better plane of existence in our lives in His Kingdom. 

I love this much often misquoted passage of scripture found in Genesis 24:1:

"Abraham was old; he came with his days" 

"He came with his days" teaches us that Abraham used each of his days to the fullest extent.  At the end of his life, he came to old age "with all his days" in hand.  No day was without its own unique growth.   In other words, Abraham had something to show for all his days of living.  He had produced spiritual fruit from the labor of his soul on this earth.  This is what we hope to achieve in the counting of the omer; to number our days for the goodness of God's Kingdom in our lives.

This all sounds great, but it isn't always easy.  Some people do not want to move any further spiritually than reaching the place of knowing there is a Messiah, believing in Him and receiving and enjoying the gift of salvation.  Salvation is, after all, the greatest gift ever given and by all means the most important gift.   

It surprises many to learn that fact that there are even more gifts!  Why is this such a surprise and so hard to understand?  When you married your husband, did your life end with the marriage on your wedding day, or was that day only the beginning?  There is so much more!  God is such a giver!  Going further with God is a choice we all have to make for ourselves.  Do we want to stay warm and cozy with all we have already attained through the granting of the greatest gift, or do we want to keep moving on into even more adventures with God?  Salvation is an awesome, most important gift, and it is free for the taking, but if you value it, you will more than likely also value another gift called sanctification.  Sanctification can only come after Salvation.

Unlike salvation, sanctification is not free.  Salvation required no effort on our part. Sanctification does.  Jesus gives us both gifts; salvation and sanctification.  It is only Him working inside of us that makes either gift possible.   His blood is ALL that makes us holy before God.  Make no mistake that it is His blood that saves us and only His blood that makes us holy before God.  None of our own works will ever attain our salvation or sanctification.  Our own efforts are like filthy rags, but that doesn't mean that we should not make an effort.  

God desires for us to want to be holy like Him.  Sanctification will cost you your attitude!  You will have to surrender your will and succumb to the will and nature of God.  God wants us to turn from the old man and begin to be the new man.   This process of being made new after salvation is called sanctification.   Once we are covered with the blood of Jesus, this process becomes possible.  It is impossible without the blood of Jesus.  Please hear me out on this; once we have been saved, it is sanctification that makes new life begin in us.  Growing closer to God through sanctification increases the working of God's Holy Spirit that resides inside our soul.  Sanctification is how God transforms us from the old person we were to the new person He actually created us to be.  It is again, like a harvesting.  A seed must die to itself, be buried in the ground and endure until the sun and water and nutrients that make it grow do their work.  We are counting the omer during this time of lying dormant, the time that is unseen, the time that the little seed becomes a small plant and begins to push itself to the surface and come into the world a new plant.       

Some of us are afraid of walking down this path of sanctification and new growth.  We are often afraid of failure, but we must  continuously keep in mind that we are covered by the blood of Jesus.  We must remember the fact that His blood is so righteous that it cannot fail.  So many are afraid of failing in life that they refuse to ever start to live.  How ironic!  This is so sad.  It causes people to settle for dust when they could obtain pure gold.  

Setting too lofty and unattainable goals is often the biggest reason people fail. When we set our goals too high and too soon, we inevitably fall short and get discouraged. Things are easier and less frustrating if you take them one day at a time. This is the method used in “counting the omer.”  This is how God teaches us to be holy; one day at a time, one life experience at a time.  Each lesson builds as we go through the 50 days meditating on God's nature and determining to imitate Him as best we can.




We are told in the scriptures to count the 49 days between Passover and Shavuot (Pentecost) beginning on the day of Early First Fruits and ending on The Day of Pentecost.  
Like most events in life we tend to be more aware of the beginning and the end, but it is the part in the middle that is required to bring about true and lasting transformation. Therefore the counting of the days from Passover to Pentecost is very much an effort in which THE PROCESS is in and of itself of great value. 



Counting the omer is how we learn to "number" our days. The word for "number" in Hebrew is “mispar.” Its root is closely related to our English word for "story" ― “sipur.” Can you see the relationship between the two?

A collection of events (or days) becomes a story ― as opposed to a random anthology of events. Each day builds on the day before as we go along creating God's story for each of us.  You will have a beginning in which the characters are introduced, a middle in which conflict takes place, and an end in which there is resolution. There is a full story eventually, but it happens, unfolds and builds in increments of time.

Unfortunately today our lives flow by so quickly that we frequently lose awareness of the awesome power of our own stories. The metamorphosis of today into tomorrow is subtle enough for us to lose consciousness of time, how it began, what lay in the middle and how it all ends.  The commandment to count each day after we have experienced a "passing over" teaches us mindfulness.  It re-opens our hearts to hearing stories.  The stories of God help us to count out the days of our lives, showing us how to live in each moment.   From Passover to Pentecost there are two stories which are intertwined.  One is the story of a transformation of a people who at Passover become physically free into a people who at Shavuot become spiritually free.

The Passover story tells us of the day the People of God left Egypt.  This was a day in which they rejected the Egyptian definition of what their lives would hold.  They learned through the power of God they were free to be exactly who they truly were created to be.

But they did not yet know their own stories.  

It was only when they received the Torah that they found the channels that could give their souls expression.  Always with the onslaught of total freedom comes a process of learning.  It is unexpected, but it always shows up.  It is through the learning process that the people of God learned the mechanics of meeting those real challenges they faced in the wilderness, challenges that were genuine and enduring.  We each face our own wilderness circumstances and we each have our own challenges in this life.  Through this process of living out time day-to-day the stories of the people of God in the wilderness began to evolve.  Without this process of time and learning they would have simply remained slaves forever.  There would have been no stories to tell.  Salvation brings us life and freedom.  Sanctification gives our life stories.  

 

By living through the time of transition (in the wilderness) The Israelites evolved into a people that would be used by God.  

                          

All evolution eventually involves change.  God gave the people the ritual of the early first fruits sacrifice to follow so they would recognize this.   Even this ritual defining the time of year for them reflected change.   The sacrifice that was offered on Passover was made out of barley.   In ancient times, barley was used as fodder for animals.  The sacrifice that was offered on Pentecost was made of wheat.  Wheat is often used as an allegory for the human capacity of intelligence.  While an animal can eat a fruit or a leaf (the early sacrifice), it requires human intelligence and creativity to make bread (the later sacrifice.)  This pictures the growing process from the sacrifice of early first fruits to the sacrifice of latter first fruits.

Here in this process of time from the Passover and leaving Egypt until arriving in the promised land and eventually experiencing Pentecost, we begin to see the amazing transformation of God's people from a people who are defined by the strife and yearnings of the sort of freedom shared by animals; to the freedom of becoming truly evolved human beings.  The time between Passover and Pentecost and the counting of the omer is all about transformation and progression to a higher form of life.  God desires that we have this gift!  

Only God can bring about our transformation!

Left to ourselves we would remain depraved animals.  God has a way of transforming us if we let him.  Upon leaving Egypt, those who were transformed had to be obedient in putting the blood of the lamb over their door posts.  This was the first step to total freedom yet they hardly noticed what they were doing; they were simply acting in faith and obedience.   Sometimes the transformation from slavery to freedom is gradual and unnoticed as time marches on and on, but it happens when we are obedient enough to trust God and let it happen.    

What makes us truly human? Some think it is the bond that we share with God that makes us human beings.  These bonds are called "sefirot," a name which also has the same root word as "number" and "story." This common root conveys the fact that our beginnings, middles and ends are ultimately measured and finite, but nonetheless our time is touched by the infinite spark of godliness within us.  The earliest mention of this concept is presented in the Kabbalistic work called Sefer Yetzirah, literally; the "Book of Formation."  This book has been attributed to Abraham by the sages of old.                  

 Do you know or understand that some Kabbalistic work evolved from Abraham?  It was a long time before I discovered this fact.  The very word Kabbala sounded very spooky and strange to me.  I avoided it.  Most of the time it is still strange and spooky!  This is one of those times to discern what is scriptural from what has been added to scripture.  Be careful where you go, especially with mystic Kabbalistic teachings.  Because of this, it took me some time to come around to the truth of counting the omer.  

                                                                                                                                   I thought about the fact that God attributed righteousness to Abraham.  Maybe he (Abraham)  knew something that I had not yet thought of and I began to study the parts of the puzzle in Kabbalistic thinking that were attributed to Abraham only.  Hmmmm.....  Be careful though not to be mislead.  Do not to mix the interest in biblical Hebrew roots with the wrong kind of Kabbala that practices magic and sorcery.  Magic and sorcery are an abomination to God!  Abraham did not participate in such things.

Over the years what Abraham knew has been perverted by greedy and ungodly men using and twisting the knowledge for their own selfish reasons.    Abraham would not have been mixed up with or participated in any type of sorcery, magic or idol worship.   He was strongly opposed to the occult and idol worship; which is where all of the wrong types of Kabbala perversions lead.  That is why I probably will not even call what I am referring to here Kabbala; because it is not a part of such things, but biblical in nature and follows the scriptures.   

I am simply referring to the study of the nature of God and how it works in our lives when we recognize and count the days between Passover and Pentecost.   God was the One who commanded that we do this.  There are those who take this practice to an extreme who do not even believe in God.  That is not at all what I am talking about. 

                                                                                                                             

My only reason for considering the practice of counting the omer at all is because of God's commandment to Abraham, Moses and others in the bible.  The scriptures clearly spell out that we should count the days up to 50 days, beginning with Passover on the Day of Early First Fruits in order to know when Pentecost will arrive.

 There are over a thousand commentaries on Sefer Yetzirah.  It remains one of the most fascinating Jewish works on the nature of God.  The thing I love about it is that it helps me to know more of The Father.   In the 1500s, Rabbi Yitzhak Luria, a mystic from Egypt, settled in Safed.   He was known widely by the acrostic of his name as the Ari (literally "the Lion").   He taught the most enigmatic sections of Kabbalah to a select group of disciples.   Subsequently, the mystic teachings of Judaism became far more accessible than they had ever been in the past.   Those who knew the commandment to "count the days" could now begin to understand "why" they were counting the days.  Understanding is the birth of wisdom.  Always remember to chew up the meat and spit out the bones, or in other words weigh the wisdom written down by men against the scriptures as you go along in order to stay pure to God's will.  

The most central theme of this Rabbi's teachings is the significance of gaining an awareness of the bond that we share with God.  He calls this the "sefirot" of our spiritual souls.

It has been determined that there are seven aspects of godliness that can be displayed by human beings:

1) Chesed - which means loving kindness

2) Gevurah - which means justice and discipline

3) Tiferet - which means harmony and compassion

4) Netzach - which means endurance

5) Hod - which means gratitude and humility

6) Yesod - which means foundation and bonding

 7) Malchut - which means kingship, leadership and sovereignty.
 

These attributes of God are taught in the scriptures.  They are the things that one should meditate on in the days of counting the omer. 

I find it wonderful to see and know that the commandment which summed up all commandments - "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind and love your neighbor as yourself" is the first commandment mentioned and taught in the counting of the omer.  All other things build upon this one commandment.  This commandment describes the state called "chesed."  It seems if we don't get this "love" part of life - we miss out on everything else altogether.  It is the first aspect of godliness that is taught as we begin to count the days.  It is our first thought toward developing holiness in our day to day lives. 

Another favorite of mine is  aspect number five which represents gratitude and humnility - as the past ten years of life for me have been full of the recognition that gratitude and humility are two of the truest forms of worship. 

It is also noted in these teachings leading through the counting of the days till Pentecost that at the root of all forms of enslavement (thinking of the Israelites in Egypt as well as our own enslavement to sin), is a distortion of these attributes of God's nature.  If we are not careful with our humanness, we will distort these things of God and defeat the learning.  We must beware and stay pure to the original meanings.

Each of the seven weeks between Passover and Shavuot is dedicated to examining and refining one of these seven aspects of godliness and different combinations of each of them together.

There is something in our nature that can reach higher and learn more and be transformed for each day that we are faithful to counting the omer.  It is not at all about the salvation we have already been freely given; but it is about the sanctification process, a way of letting God sift and shape and transform our natures into what He originally created us to be now that we ARE saved.  It is about achieving our fullest destiny before God

The counting happens in its set time every year between Early First Fruits and The Day of Pentecost.   Each season is compounded upon another until, hopefully, like Abraham; we grow old and we come before God with our own days.   Let us learn to make each one count for God's Kingdom.

As we dwell on these qualities of a godly person during the seven weeks between Passover and Pentecost our own stories and purposes begin to unfold a little further each day.  If we let God work in this time He will enlighten us with more of the stories of our own destiny and purpose He created.   It is through knowing the bond that we share with God, through The indwelling of The Holy Spirit and the blood of The Lamb from Our Savior Jesus Christ, that we are transformed and begin to grow spiritually.

So, dear friends, I pray that God will lead and teach each of us as we go through this season of numbering our days after we reach the time of Early First Fruit in the season of Passover.