Days of Celebration

The Day, The Week and The New Year are times to celebrate!  They come regularly in the rotation of the Earth.  They show us there is meaning greater than ourselves.  They can even show us the Intelligent Design in which we are participating.  There are a plethora of examples I could list here.  One aspect is the principle of consistency.   Each day, each week and each new year, we learn what consistency looks like with and without.  We learn this lesson without ever being told.  We do it.  We see it.  We notice what worked.  We can choose to try again.  We explore it.  We try again continuously.  We hopefully ask.  We discover it!  Gratefully, our Creator behind it all grants us grace, the enabling power we all need to continue and celebrate in the journey. 

By observing and exploring these days of celebration, we will come to ask and receive in small ways and ultimately come closer to that great God, which in turn will bring more balance and Connection into our lives.

I found this video which teaches aspects of these ideas amazingly. Enjoy your new day!

Did you Know?

• The Day in the Hebrew culture begins at sundown.  It is the evening preparations which ignites momentum into the next 24 hours.
• The Week in the Hebrew culture contains life.  It is the perfect amount of time to work and rest, release and renew and to restore and re-create.
• The New Year in the Hebrew culture begins in September.  There are several Feasts of celebration  throughout the year and the Feast at this time was anciently called the Day of Remembrance.  In Ancient times, the Lord told Israel to blow a Trumpet on this day for remembrance.   It was a time for Israel to remember their captivity.  Remembering their times of banishment and of lost truths brought them a desire to be spiritually renewed which lead them to making covenants with their God.
• The New Year today is also time of harvest and ingathering.  Along with daily remembrance and renewal, it is a time to remember and turn back again to our Maker and our duty to Him.  It is a time to Release and be Renewed.  It is a time to remember His hand in our lives and the bounty he supplies.  It is a time to rid ourselves of unnecessary burdens and apply the healing power of The One who came to pave The Way.

Discovering Mission

Do you ever wonder, "Why am I here?  Who am I really?" or "What am I doing here? and Where am I going?" Well, I do.  I have wondered and wondered and desired so much to understand my specific purpose.  "What is it I am to learn while I wander in this lonely world?"  

Well, one day while I was in my daily studies, I noticed a pattern.  A man named Saul was traveling around slandering the names and reputations of friends and family; committing serious injuries.  He did this until one day, a light appeared shining around him and His Creator stood, and told him it was not in his nature to act in such ways.  It was as if he awoke.  In astonishment, he ask this crucial question, "What would you have me do?  

Then another man, John Lathrop.  He was burdened heavily because of his desire to worship his God according to his conscience.  His loyalties to his country were challenged.  He felt called to preach a truth which was not accepted.  His wife begged him to please stop gathering in meetings and to stay quiet, for the sake of their family.  Although he felt torn, it was that deep feeling inside the marrow of his bones and the Holy Spirit that had put the cause into his heart.  He would not turn aside what he knew he was to do; spread light to his fellow captives.  

After reading both these stories, I noticed that each of these men received answers to their questions.  Questions like, "What am I to do?"  Each of these men were shown in their hearts or minds, or both, what they were to do and they did it, gaining confidence in their guidance.  Their stories live on today, I would argue, because their yearned for questions were answered and they knew what they needed to do.

After discovering these men asked similar questions to mine,  I realized, instead of just wondering, I should do the same, and ask.   Well, I did.  "Lord, what would you like me to do?  The result can be seen through My Story of Asking.  

The Pilgrim's Course

A Pilgrim is a wanderer who has a temporary residence on earth.  He is on a journey of human life and possibly traveling the course over and over.  There is also a parallel journey of a Hero.  Both journeys are simultaneously progressing.  Do you see it?  Are you on that course of a Pilgrim?  

The patterns surround us.  They show us everywhere;  if we are observing and exploring;  if we are asking.  If you want to understand more fully where you are in this Course and how you can progress through the traps or roadblocks which surely come, try observing in the one of the Books: the Old or New Testaments, the Book of Mormon, or even the Bhagavad Gita or the Koran.  You will see this course over and over.  

Another way I have found helpful to see the Pilgrim's course more clearly, is to see this pattern through someone's recent story.  

My favorite example of a Pilgrim is Abraham.  He was one of the only true and faith-full members of his family.  His father literally tried to sacrifice him on an alter to a false god.  He was protected and fled from his home into a strange land.  He came to a place called Hebron, which may be one reason why he is called the father of the Hebrew's though his descendants through his son Isaac and his grandson Jacob, are today called the House of Israel or the Tribes of Israel.  His family was large and they wandered from here to there as need arose.  He greatly influenced the whole Egypt nation; their technology, history, methods of understanding the heavens, etc.  His efforts and sacrifice to be true, brought him great promises.  Eventually, when he was 100 years old, his son was born under the law of birthright and he and his wife were promised that through their seed all the earth would be blessed.  

Another example I love is Maria Von Trapp.  She was raised in an Atheistic home and after having her own experiences contemplating her life she slowly developed a relationship with her Creator.  One day she found herself at the top of a mountain and committing to her God that she would never turn back.  From that point on she went forward no matter what the circumstances.  Even when her and her family found themselves in America with many little children and homeless.  She trusted in that unseen hand which always lead her along.

                                                      

William Wilberforce's life is another great example of this course.  His story shows the power of recognizing who we are and what we are to do while we are sojourning in this existence.  He developed a relationship with his Creator early on in his life and then began to fight courageously to end the slave trade in the British Empire.  In his journal entries he accounted his efforts to share his love of his God with the many people he met.  It was this motivation and love from within which gave him the power to act and work tirelessly for over 30 years to free the slaves.  

Are you currently on the Pilgrim's Course?  Where?  What is your story?  Observe and Explore these stories and others.  I am sure you will see yourself in a story somewhere.  Find it.  Ask and discover it.  

Here is a short Biographical video about Maria Von Trapp.