Sorry, Moses.

Most times I've decided to read the Bible from cover to cover, I have given up somewhere in the midst of Leviticus and skipped ahead to lighter books. Leviticus is riddled with detailed instructions from God on how Moses was to build His Holy places and with directions on every sacrifice imaginable in vivid, gruesome detail. By the time I'm a few chapters in I am thanking the Lord for sending His Son, Jesus, to be the final sacrifice so that I don't have to do any of these rituals to be saved, and this time around it was no different...at first. Somewhere beyond the altar measurements something else stood out to me, peeking around the line after line of bloodshed and butchery, whispering: "hey! look over here!".

Well, I looked, and this time I noticed the significance of the sacrifices more than just the sacrifices alone. I can't tell you how many times I have read this book and been unable to see beyond the acts themselves, but that's one of the many reasons I love the Bible. It's like an onion.......oh never mind, I'm not going to go there. :O)

One of those things I noticed was the significance of all the preparations the people, especially the priests, had to go through. With a perfunctory glance, God looks like the micro-manager to end all micro-managers and I find myself asking Him "Seriously? Is this all really necessary?". Well, today He answered me. He said "Yes, it was." See, the true concept of complete holiness has always been a hard one for me to grasp and even harder for me to put into words, but I'll try anyway. God is perfect (holy). In Him there is no darkness. None whatsoever. So, to offer Him something that He could possibly accept, it too has to be perfect, as does the person offering it. This poses a bit of a problem, doesn't it? There are no perfect people. Enter the myriad of rituals and regulations the priests and people must perform just to present an offering to the Lord. These rules were set forth for the people's protection. Approaching an all holy God in an unholy way was a recipe for disaster. Why does God care? Why couldn't He just look over our imperfections in body and spirit and accept our offerings as is? Because that is less than perfect. He can't be less than perfect, it's against His very character. Marinate in that for awhile.

The other thing that stood out to me this morning was how God made all sorts of mandatory festivals and celebrations (all with their own strict rules, of course) throughout the year for His people. My knee jerk reaction to reading about these events was always that they sounded like a tremendous amount of work to pull off. I was always glad I didn't have to keep them. But today I had a different thought. Today I realized that they were meant to remind the people of all that God had done for them for generations to come. Annual  physical retellings of how God has cared for His people and delivered them, time and time again, thoughtfully designed to teach the future generations of His truth. Now I wish I had been celebrating them this way all this time. Of course my family celebrates Christmas and Easter, but it's always been in a very secular, non-intentional, non-God centered way. Sure, we go to church and talk about what the seasons mean to us as followers of Christ, but it always ends with the kids more excited about the prospect of presents and candy rather than a God who loves them enough to send His only Son to die for them. I think I'm doing something very wrong here.

Of all the books in the Bible, I have held the least regard for Leviticus. Well, Moses, consider this my sincerest apology. I have missed the point for many years when I saw this book as irrelevant to my life now. I will no longer make that mistake.

What do you do to point to Jesus during the holiday seasons? What traditions do you keep in your family to ensure that the meaning is not lost over time? I'd love to hear about them!

Rest! Rest, I said!

A few months back I did a self-led study on rest. More specifically, the Sabbath-rest. The first verses I came upon where Hebrews 4:9-11 and what I read there came as quite a shock! 

NOT resting is DISOBEDIENCE!!

This may have been common knowledge to some but it was life altering for me! I had been going a mile a minute at this point in time, hardly having a moment to rest, let alone an entire Sabbath day. There was always so many tasks to get done and places to go, so many people to take care of, so many things to clean, cook, manage.....I felt guilty for even sitting down when there were so many other things I "should" be doing. I even folded laundry standing up because I was so worn out that if I sat down to fold the clothes, I'd immediately start falling asleep. This was either a testament to how comfortable my couches are, or, to how ragged I was running myself just trying to keep up.

God knew people's propensity to behave this way, and He knew it was not good. He put down some harsh guidelines back in Moses' day just to draw the people's attention to its importance (Ex 31:12-17). It was during this study that I became aware that I HAD to change something. 

Making sure that our family had a Sabbath where we could rest and reflect on what God is doing in our lives was no easy feat. My husband works a demanding job that often requires late nights and some weekends so weekdays/nights were out right off the bat. Since Saturdays were often a work day for my husband and also the only day the local farmer's market and mom2mom sales were running (necessary for a family of 6 w/ young kids!), it was out too. That left Sunday. 

I worked for our church at the time, running the Nursery. I was there for 7 hours every Sunday morning and I can assure you that it was not time spent resting! I loved my job there and people I worked with even more, but, after months of prayer and Godly counsel, I knew it had to go. It was the only thing I cut and be able to put a day of rest in its place on a regular basis. I couldn’t get rid of the kids, the house, or the husband’s job! (Not that I would, of course! :O) ) Even though it was a very tough decision, I have not regretted it.

The revelation that not resting was being disobedient to God was a huge one. Realizing that God commanded us to take a break and just enjoy his presence for a whole day each week has brought much needed peace into my life. Is life perfect now? Are my days of getting stressed out over? No, of course not, but now there is a day I truly look forward to: A day that my family goes together to worship and serve God at our church; a day that my family spends together without a hectic agenda to adhere to; a day that I throw frozen pizzas in the oven, pop some corn, and sit down to a movie with my kids in the evening. We all look forward to our Sabbath Sundays now and we’re more available to God because of it. I guess God does know what’s best! ;-)

“Truly my soul finds rest in God; my salvation comes from Him. Truly He is my rock and my salvation; He is my fortress, I will never be shaken.” (Ps 62:1-2)

Let me start by explaining....

Years and years ago my life looked much different than it does now. For the sake of this blog, I"ll refer to this earlier stage in my life as the "Mohawk Era". Even though I did not don a mohawk during that era's entirety, it serves as an accurate metaphor for my whole state of existence at that time. (Did I mention I like metaphors?)  What do you think of when you envision a mohawk? Hard? Spiky? Rebellious? Independent? Angry? Dirty? Rockin'? Reckless? Awesomesauce? Yes, and also, yes. :O)

So, what happened? How does one go from defying and loathing God to falling at the very same God's feet with a heart of repentance? Well, folks, that's fodder for forthcoming blog posts so you'll have to stay tuned to hear about that. :O) For this post I just want to make some things clear right from the start, so as to hopefully deter any confusion on the matter in the future.

FACTS:

1) I am not a scholar in any way, shape, or form. I do not claim to have all the answers now, nor will I ever. 

2) That being said, I have my beliefs which I've come to through research, prayer, and experience. I exercise my right to defend them respectfully and I will extend the same courtesy to you.
3) Discussions on the blog are welcome, even if you disagree with me, as long as you remain respectful to everyone involved.
4) I'm going to pray for you, even if you don't believe that God is on the other end listening. Don't be offended, Jesus commands that His followers pray for everyone. I'm simply doing what I believe.

Well, that should do it for now! My hope is that this blog will start some meaningful and heartfelt conversations about what God is, what God isn't, and what He's doing in our world. Being a mom of 4 young children (the oldest turns 7 in November) who also takes care of an infant during the week and is active in church and her kids' school, I don't have a lot of time to meet and discuss the things in life that matter with people in person. Hopefully this will give anyone who wants to be involved in the conversation the ability to do so without the constraints of time and physical location.

Thanks for reading!