SEASONS - RANDOM THOUGHTS DURING THE SPRING HOLY DAYS

(Written by Sheila Gail Landgraf)

Another Passover has happened, and we are approaching the end of the Seven Days of Unleavend Bread.  Again, as I have done for the last 25 years; I observed the days by honoring God in my home.    God has shown me so much in these past few days.

What has God shown you this year?  Is God speaking to your heart of new and different things?

I have found each time I observe the Holy Days God speaks to me in new and different ways, showing me things I’ve never seen before.  That is exciting to me!  I don’t know why I’m always surprised to find this out. 

There were several things that happened this year during the times of observance that felt different and new and unordinary to me.  I suppose the main thing I noticed is how much we didn’t miss using the regular bread this year.  We have taken extra steps all year long to improve our health and one of those steps was to almost eliminate bread from our diet.  So this year when I made sandwiches on flat unleavened pita bread, and left out the rolls for dinner, and forgot the biscuits for breakfast, and brought out the Matzoh tray with every meal; it did not feel like we were giving anything up.  It just felt good and nutritious.  I’m hoping that the spiritual symbolism of this is also true! 

The whole point of leaving out the things with leaven in them is to be symbolic of learning to live without sin.  Hopefully, we are sinning less and less and instead focusing our spirits toward God’s will more and more.  I realize men cannot quit sin without God’s help and anything that we do is only because it is God working through us.  I’ll take that accomplishment!  Come Lord Jesus and do your work in me!

CHOCOLATE COVERED MATZOH

I guess I’m trying to say I feel like God is working through our lives more and more these days, and the things of the world are becoming less and less important.  Focusing on the meanings of these holy days helps me to put the things of the world into the right 

perspective.  Thinking of how Jesus made atonement for us by giving his life like an early first fruits offering has set the stage to remind me that once Jesus was resurrected from the grave we all had new and different lives!  What a joyful reminder.  Once the Resurrection proved the power of God to bring new life, it really became easier for all of us to put the things of sin and the world aside because of the resurrection power of Jesus residing in our souls.  He makes all good things possible for us.  What a difference a Resurrected Messiah makes!  Nothing is the same again; all things are made new!

So no wonder we are continuing to eat the unleavened bread for seven days, it is so symbolic of how Jesus has given us the power to clean up our lives and help us to live in God’s will and BE His people.   Why would we be eating the leaven so symbolic of sin right after our risen Savior has proved the power of God for everlasting life?  The unleavened bread seems so appropriate as we remember.

Besides seeing the everyday evidence of so much symbolism as we progressed through these days, I have also enjoyed the delightful taste and the constant feeding of the unleavened bread.  I found myself looking forward to consuming it, even craving it.  This was a pretty new concept, compared to many years gone by.  In the past I have dreaded having to substitute the leavened bread for eating purposes.  This year I have craved doing this.  I hope it is a physical example of how I more and more crave Christ in my days instead of the old life of sin.  The things of God are more delicious to me and the things I used to desire, I no longer crave.  This feels good and hopeful and it would have been harder to really grasp or understand if I had not actually carried out the observance or gone through the days as God commanded.  By adding these commandments of God into our lives, we have received more blessings, over and above what we would normally receive.  They come in little small ways, and in simple everyday messages of profound truth.  It is God’s Spirit seeping into the dark places, bringing the light that makes us wake up again and remember to start living and be joyful.  It is just as important to put the things of God into your days as to take the things of the world out of your days.

CHILDREN'S SEDER (FOR TEACHING TODDLERS ABOUT PASSOVER)

Last year I decided that my early first fruits offerings to God had to be more personal.  I gave to Him my greatest talent, my writing.  I felt like I was giving God back an old present that He had given to me long ago.  By giving it back to God  I do not mean I gave up my writing for God; I mean that I devoted myself to using my writing for God’s glory.  This past year God has blessed that offering in tremendous ways.  I have seen my offering returned to me over and over again, not so much in a financial manner, but in a feeling that the writing is finally being used in a fruitful way.  I feel like my writing is finally becoming an open window that people can enter to see more of God and the things of God’s Kingdom.  That has been the desire of my heart.  That was what I intended with my offering, and God has blessed this.  Looking back after the first year of being offered up to be poured out like a drink offering; I feel He will continue to bless it. 

This year my offering has been to take better care of my physical body because I know it is the temple of God and it is the place where God resides inside of me.  It is so easy to get distracted with day to day living and forget that you are living in a temple.  My temple needed attention.  It had been neglected.  God showed me this, and I have responded.  Immediately after I made this offering to God on Early First Fruits, God began to show me new things.  He is teaching me how to remove the bad and replace it with the good.  Just like boards rot and windows break and we see them so often that we forget to notice, our souls and our bodies need repair and upkeep.  I feel like I’m being coached by the coach of all coaches, and every day I realize something new in relation to maintaining good health and keeping this Temple of The Holy Spirit clean. 

THIS YEAR WE ENJOYED THE SEVEN DAYS OF UNLEAVENED
 BREAD BY EATING OUTSIDE A LOT.

I guess the point I’m trying to make here is that if I had not kept the holy days and not observed Passover, Early First Fruits and The Days of Unleavened Bread as God has commanded, my life would not be as whole or as good, and I would not be so content or so excited about the days to come.  I would still KNOW God, but the KNOWING would not be as much and our relationship would not be as deep.  I continue to recognize this as I count the days after First Fruits up to Pentecost.  The ancients call this “counting the omer.”  I have a friend who thinks it should be phrased as “counting the weeks” (there are 7 Sabbaths in the count up to Pentecost that are mentioned in the scriptures, and it is true we are told to count them as weeks, not the physical omer itself; if you want to get technical) because the Omer is an object of measurement, not time.  I can see a little beyond that though, in that if you actually think of the grain that was contained in the Omer when the sacrifice was brought and offered up to God and discern that our days offered up to God are symbolically like those little pieces of grain.  God takes them and uses them a little at a time.  An accumulation of our times is eventually measured out just as the grain.  It is saying that all the little things we do make up the big picture to God.  Each day builds onto the next and the next and the next and your measure of grain (your first fruits) will come together for a beautiful spiritual harvest in the end, once another ingredient is added – God’s Holy Spirit on Pentecost.  

All of man’s efforts would be a waste of time without God being a part of them.  

Observing Passover, Early Frist Fruits and Unleavened Bread without counting up to and observing Pentecost would be like mixing all the ingredients of a cake together, setting it on the counter and watching it, but not adding any milk or putting the mix in the oven.  Your cake would never get baked, because you would be missing a vital part that makes it work – God’s Holy Spirit, which is given at Pentecost. 

It is pondering these things that brings me joy!  I have so many friends that are feeling sad about growing old.  I’m just not feeling that way; though I am getting on up in years, I am feeling God coming closer and closer.  I am feeling anticipation for what He will do next in my life, in my home, in my marriage, in my family, in my work.  I don’t think I would be feeling the same way if I had ignored God’s Holy Days all year and said they are old antiquated days made only for the Jews and not for me.  It simply isn’t true and the proof to me is the way God reveals so much life to me in the observance of them. 

LOVE THINKING ABOUT THE CHESED ATTRIBUTES OF GOD'S PERSONALITY IN THE FIRST WEEK OF COUNTING THE OMER.  I TRY TO KEEP REMINDERS ALL OVER THE HOUSE.

So before I ramble even more, I will end this time of pondering.  But first; I would like to encourage everyone everywhere to pick up your bibles and study Leviticus 23 and learn how to observe God’s Holy Days.  Don’t listen to all the Pharisees out there who will give you their legal list of rules.  Just study God’s word and apply what He shows you.  He will lead you.  As long as you are focused on worshiping God, you will not make unrepairable mistakes.  God looks at the intentions of your heart, not the rules and regulations and technicalities.  You will be blessed, I promise.  

COME AS A CHILD LESSON 117 THE ODDEST THINGS CAN HAPPEN ON THE WAY TO EGYPT

^{(Written by Sheila Gail Landgraf)}

 God told Moses to go back to Egypt.  God said that Moses should not be afraid because all of those who previously wanted to kill him were now dead.  Does this not remind you of Jacob going back to the land of his birth after so many years of working for Laban?  Both men had fears of returning, and God needed to reassure both of them.  I have found many parallels between the story of Jacob and the story of Moses as he left Midian to go to Egypt to do the will of God.  

Both Moses and Jacob had a strong influence in their lives from women.  Moses' life was saved several times by women, first the midwives, then his mother, then his sister, then Pharoah's daughter, then his wife Zipporah.  The part Zipporah played in saving Moses' life is in our lesson today.

 

Before leaving for his task in Egypt, Moses went back to Midian and spoke with Jethro (his father-in-law) and said to him, “Let me return to my own people in Egypt to see if any of them are still alive.”

Leaving Jethro must have been hard for Moses.  He had been like a true father to him.  This might have been even harder for Jethro.   Moses had been living with Jethro for 40 years now.  He had worked with him every day, tending his flocks.   Jethro had taken Moses into his home at a time when Moses was a homeless fugitive, and he had even allowed his daughter, Zipporah to marry Moses.  Now Jethro had two grandsons by Moses and Zipporah.    

The oldest grandson of Jethro was named Gershom (meaning I have become a foreigner in a foreign land), and the youngest, who was probably just born around the time that God called Moses out to go back to Egypt, was Eliezer. (Eliezer’s name means God delivers.) Though Jethro loved these two grandsons, he was not selfish and he did not think of himself.  He did not try to persuade Moses to stay for his sake.  He seemed to grasp the larger picture of the Hand of God on the life of Moses.  Jethro simply said, “Go, and I wish you well.”  This was similar, yet a complete opposite of the experience of Jacob with Laban.  Moses left his father-in-law on good terms, and Jacob left Laban on different terms.  Both men though, had foreign father-in-laws that they had to leave in another land.   Both men took away the daughters and grandchildren with them.

So Moses packed up his wife, children and possessions and set out traveling south toward Egypt.  He carried the staff of God in his hand as they traveled. 

The LORD spoke with Moses as they were on the way and said “When you return to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders I have given you the power to do.  But I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go.  Then say to Pharaoh, ‘This is what the LORD says:  Israel is my firstborn son, and I told you, “Let my son go, so he may worship me.  But you refused to let him go; so I will kill your firstborn son.” 

Moses listened to what God wanted him to do and must have thought this over all the way to Egypt.

Soon they had journeyed for a whole day and it was beginning to be evening.  They came to a place where they set up camp to rest for the night.  Many scripture passages say this was an inn, but it is mistranslated because there were no inns in the dessert between Midian and Egypt at that time.  There were resting stations here and there with empty shelters if you had your own provisions, but people basically just camped on the side of the road, wherever they were when evening came. 

Once Moses and his family arrive at their camp for the evening, we find out there is a very strange turn of events.  One minute everything seems to be fine, but suddenly we hear “in this place the LORD met Moses and was about to kill him.”

Would God kill Moses?  Now????

Why on earth would God do that?  He had just recruited Moses to go to Pharaoh and tell him to let His people go.  Apparently, Moses was being prepared for this moment his whole life.  Now on the first evening of his journey to do God’s will we hear that God comes looking for Moses to kill him!  Very strange words!  

It gets even stranger!  We then read of Zipporah coming to Moses’ rescue by taking a flint knife and cutting off her son’s foreskin and touching Moses’ feet with it!  What on earth could this mean?  Then she screams “Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me.”

What an odd thing to say; but apparently those were just the right words because the next thing we know God has let Moses go, and all seems to be well again.

A better translation of the words of Zipporah would be “How beloved is the blood that has delivered the bridegroom from the hand of The Angel of Death.”  Does that sound a little different to you?  The wording of the scriptures makes all of this very hard to understand.  

People have been trying to explain this strange scripture passage for ages.  There are many different interpretations and I have simply studied a lot of them and picked the parts that I feel are right.  I do not claim to know.  I am simply reporting what I learned from my own studies.  Don’t take my word for it.  Study it yourself and see the reason behind all the logic with your own eyes.  Do your own research and see if you agree or disagree.  This is a very hard passage to interpret! 

A good place to start the study would be to grasp a full understanding of the covenant of God with Abraham (this is a subject we have already covered in previous lessons) and to have a clear understanding of the ritual of circumcision. 

Remember in the covenant of Abraham there was a cutting ceremony with a heifer, a goat and a ram.  Their parts were laid out with an aisle between the two divided parts of each slaughtered animal.  It was customary for the weaker party of the covenant to pass between the body parts and pledge his loyalty to the stronger party by saying “May it be unto me as with these slaughtered animals if I fail to be loyal.”  It is very surprising that God was the only one to pass through the body parts in His covenant with Abraham.  That act put all the responsibility of keeping the covenant on God.  Abraham had absolutely nothing to do!  All of the oath of fulfilling the covenant fell on God.  God made Abraham unconditional promises.

It wasn’t until much later that Abraham took his oath to God by passing under the knife in the act of cutting his foreskin in the act of circumcision.  This was the same as Abraham saying “May I and my offspring be cut off if I do not act in loyalty toward God.”

Now it seemed that Moses had not kept the covenant of Abraham with God in that he had neglected to circumcise his first born son.  Moses had grown up in Egypt and these things would not have been so obvious to him when his first son had been born.  Yet, he knew of his own circumcision that had most likely been performed properly on the eighth day after his birth.  He was a foreigner in Midian, and had not been with his true people even growing up in Egypt.  Was it possible that Moses didn’t seem to know what was proper?  At his age, he probably DID know what would have been proper for a Hebrew.  Perhaps he could only realize what his Midian Father-in-law had shared with him.  Maybe it was the custom in Midian that the practice of circumcision did not to take place until a boy was 13 years old (as a rite of passage) instead of on the 8^th day after his birth, very similar to what their neighbors (the Ishmaelites) practiced.)  These things are unclear, but the thing that WAS clear was the fact that a child of Moses, a descendant of Abraham had not been circumcised.  

There is also the possibility that Zipporah did not understand the necessity of keeping Abraham’s covenant with God and did not wish to subject her son to the bloody ritual and therefore maybe she persuaded Moses that this act was not necessary.  This would have been long before Moses had the burning bush experience; so it might not have seemed so important or relevant to them at the time. 

Surely though, God knew all of these "ifs", "ands" and "buts."  They did not seem to matter.  We must remember that God looks at things from outside of time.  He knows the beginning from the end, the whole story, where we only see where we are standing now.  God KNEW that every firstborn son would die in Egypt unless they were protected by blood over their doorpost.  That would be the sign for the Angel of Death to pass over.  God had explained to Moses that he should tell Pharaoh these things, but was Moses being as stubborn as Pharaoh in neglecting to give his own son the protection of God that came from circumcision?  God could not have a man as guilty as Pharaoh commanding Pharaoh.  Moses’ disobedience in this matter needed to be tended to. 

It seemed to be clear that God was very angry and his wrath was coming toward Moses.  It was a righteous anger.  Maybe though, even this isn’t all it appears to be on the surface.  Some scholars have suggested that this wrath and anger and the fact that the scriptures say God was coming to kill Moses might have been just another form of speech which actually meant God was holding Moses in a “death grip.”  In other words, perhaps Moses was wrestling with God in a spiritual battle that affected him physically, very similar to the time when Jacob wrestled with God when God changed Jacob’s walk.

Moses needed very much to change his spiritual walk.  How could the leader of the people whom God had chosen to bring about the Messiah have violated the very sign that identified his descendants with God?  Could Moses proclaim God’s law to the people later when he had not even been observant of such things in his own life?  Any leader worth his weight must be true to the things he teaches to others.  Moses had been too careless.  God was about to change his attitude. 

It was obvious that whatever was going on between God and Moses had Moses totally debilitated to the point that when it became clear that God’s anger was all about not performing the act of circumcision, Moses could not even move or break loose to perform the act. Zipporah had to quickly step in and take the necessary action.   

Perhaps Moses was wrestling with God in the “death grip” in order to save the life of his son; most likely his first born son, since the new son might not yet be even eight days old. 

 It was clear from God’s commandment to Abraham about circumcision that all who were not circumcised would be cut off from their people.  It was the circumcision that identified the people as those who followed and believed God.  The bloody foreskin was a sign of God’s protection over them; just as the blood over the door post later became a sign of God’s protection over the first born sons while in Egypt.  God wasn’t just randomly getting mad and killing people who were uncircumcised, as some might have supposed. God was merely wanting his people to be clearly identified to others.  They were not to blend in with all the cultures around them.  

God wasn’t just making threats in anger; He was simply stating facts.  Moses’ son needed to be marked for God and not the pagan cultures around him.  Circumcision stood for proof of obedience to God.  When God had explained to Abraham that all who refused circumcision would be cut off God wasn’t just making idle threats.  God was simply stating the truth of the matter.  God wasn’t bringing punishment for unjust reasons, His anger was about the carelessness of decisions of disobedience that brought harm to the innocent.  

The cutting off was simply from the cause and effect of the wrong decisions of men; not the wrath of God.   God had offered them life.  If you cut yourself off from life; you die.  All of this comes simply from the cause and effects that men create for themselves whenever they are disobedient to God.  All of our choices have consequences.  God told Adam from the very beginning not to eat from the wrong tree, if he did; it resulted in death.  God told the people of Abraham to be circumcised, if they did not; they would be cut off.  It wasn't God's wrath that caused the troubles, it was the wrong decisions of the people.

So perhaps we should be looking at this text from a different perspective.  Instead of thinking “if we don’t circumcise ourselves, God will get angry with us and kill us, we should be remembering that  God doesn’t ask the impossible of us.  God wasn't angry with Moses' son.  He was angry with Moses.  

NO ONE IS ABLE TO CIRCUMCISE THEMSELVES.  Circumcision is something that someone else has to do for you.  Like Abraham’s covenant; all that matters is what God will do.  You can do nothing for yourself.  Everything depends on God and God alone.  But you must CHOSE to TRUST GOD.  You must allow yourself to receive the circumcision, which is today recognized as the state of our hearts through baptism.  

God had commanded that all Israelites be circumcised on the eighth day after their birth.  At this state the person being circumcised is just an infant, totally incapable of wielding a knife.  The child is circumcised by someone passing the blessing on to them.  They have done nothing to deserve it; and it is a free gift, but it must be passed on in order to take effect. 

Why would anyone neglect doing this?  How could Moses have overlooked something so important to God and expect God to protect them?

 Zipporah woke up to the truth just in time!  She saved her husband from the penalty of death he had brought on himself because of his sin of disobedience by shedding the blood of her son.  Once Zipporah performed this act of circumcision to redeem the sins of Moses, God was pleased and satisfied and He let Moses go. 

Whew!  For a moment I thought a whole nation might be lost!

It is the same situation for us today.  We are all freely blessed by God through the shed blood of Jesus Christ.  Circumcision was only a foreshadow of what happened with Jesus on the cross.  Just as our baptism symbolizes the circumcision of our hearts today.   

Innocent blood was shed to cover the sins of disobedient humanity in order to redeem them from the wrath of God.  There is a “death element” in circumcision as well as in baptism (the modern day circumcision.)  One must die to one’s self and turn his heart only toward God.  Jesus would say at a much later date; “If anyone wants to come after me he must deny himself, take up his cross and follow me daily.” 

All great men of God seem to go through such a time of testing.  The right decisions and the proper things must be done.  Abraham had such a time; Isaac and Jacob had such a time.  Jesus was tested in the wilderness by Satan.  The key to passing any test from God is obedience. In all of this wrestling with God, Moses had to learn to die to himself and be obedient to God.  Once Moses' own house was in order and all were submitted completely to God’s will, Moses was ready for God to begin to change his identity and make him a leader in the eyes of the people.   He was no longer Moses from Egypt, or Moses the Shepherd from Midian.  He became Moses The Leader of Israel, very similar to when God wrestled with Jacob and then changed his name.         

For anyone planning on leading others in a public way, it is always best and right to look at your own home first.  Do you have your personal affairs in order?  Have you done everything that God has commanded of you in the smaller things?  If you cannot handle your own home or you cannot take care of the smaller things of life; how would you expect God to allow you to lead others and take care of the larger things in life?  

God made sure that Moses did his homework before proceding.  All of the large things rested in the completion of many other smaller things.  Once this was taken care of, God and Moses were on the same page again.

What seemed like a really terrible bad day for Moses was actually a foreshadowing of the love of God for all of us in that Christ died for our sins and gave us eternal life.  Sometimes life with God is a matter of trusting and doing, even if you don't see the whole picture, even if you don't understand.  This is one thing that Abraham was good at.  This is one thing that God was determined that Moses would learn.  It is something that we could all take to heart.  Trust and obey - for there is no other way!

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.