Just a couple things from the Psalter this morning, both from Psalm 147...

Verse 3
"He heals the brokenhearted,
          and binds up their wounds."

But it doesn't always happen quickly. In fact, I've never known it to be quick. I am a slow healer, slower than most. I know this. And, yet, I can't help but wonder just how long, how long... And I think it should be now.

Like Abraham (Hebrews 6:15) who patiently endured, like everyone before me who knew that healing is coming, eventually, I wait. I don't know what to do. But I wait. Helpless, but hopeful. There's got to be hope.

Also...

Verses 10 and 11
" His delight is not in the strength of the horse,
          nor his pleasure in the speed of a runner;
  but the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him,
          in those who hope in his steadfast love."

For some reason I thought that said that God does not delight in strength or speed, but in the one who keeps on running. I must have read this Psalm a million times by now, but that's what I thought.

That is not what it says, though, so we can all just stop running.

The other thing it doesn't say is that we will win. That's not in there. So, I guess I can dispatch with that bit of imagery too.

We westerners love running and winning.

The thing that delights God, though is for us to fear him and to have hope. I am not a very good runner, but I can do that.

Like Mary (of Mary and Martha) who sat quietly while her sister went running off into the desert to find Jesus, I can sit quietly and fear God, I can wait, and I can have hope. Sometimes it's thin, but I have hope.

+++++

I have not been blogging regularly. I just go at my own pace. But I am reading along with you. I think it's the readings that really keep me in the church, whatever church is, or wherever, or anything... It's the last thing I understand. But Mary Green can't kick me out of the Bible.

I do regret, though, that I didn't write to you about Lag B'Omer. It is the 33rd day of The Omer. Lag is spelled Lamed, Gimel. (There weren't any vowels in ancient Hebrew. Vowel points have been added to make it easier for modern speakers, but they weren't around back in the day.) In Kabbalah, Lamed has a numerical value of 30, and Gimel has a value of 3. So you can see how Lamed and Gimel make 33.

It's not a big holiday. There are several reasons that the 33rd is special. The most cited is that it is the day a great plague ended. Rabbi Akiva's students were not kind to one another and that resulted in a great sickness among them. Many died. On the 33rd day of The Omer the plague ended. Rabbi Akiva got more students, but only four of them received all the knowledge that Rabbi Akiva had to impart. It is thought that if more of his students had survived that we would have much better Torah knowledge. I do think it's sad about the young talmidim, but I suspect that HaShem is not too limited by even such a great loss as that.

It is customary to not get a haircut, or to get married during The Omer. Lag is an exception, though. You may remember that I got a haircut during The Omer, though, and nothing bad came of it. I might even get another one because I don't particularly like this one. To my credit, I did not get married during The Omer.

Of course I have lost track of The Omer. I am not a good Jew, though I did make it longer than last year. But counting The Omer is not one of the requirements, and I feel adequately blessed anyway. It's true, I guess, that I might be even more blessed if I counted The Omer properly, but we'll never know. I can live with that.

+++++

I continue to keep an eye on the tadpoles in the little park. They are getting even more sluggish, and some have little protrusions which I think will become legs. Still, there are no actual frogs. I am on the case, though.

Love to all.


And stop running. It's OK.