Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Let There Be Peace

It's the day after Thanksgiving, opening day of Shopping Season, and I'm still thankful. After cleaning yesterday, too thankful for what I have and too glad to be rid of what I don't want, to even consider adding to my personal inventory at this time! I am so thankful to not be participating in this year's Shopping Season. Oh, I do shop from time to time. I don't make everything here at the Preservation, but I celebrate simplicity and since I agree with Biblical scholars that Messiah wasn't born in December, I see no reason to participate in the mayhem. I've been here at the Preservation learning the difference between people pleasing and peace making, so clearly shopping for gifts in large crowds would not be conducive to peace as I sort out my lessons. I've had this assignment for years and thought I was getting somewhere, only to get definite negative feed back. I discovered the harder I tried, the worse it became, until I was finally at the point of thinking "Whatever it takes to get people to shut up and get off my back is what I'm willing to do." Well that worked to a point, but that just usually results in having to put up with someone having a tantrum and giving me a cussin'.
It has, however; finally hit me, and thank G-d before the preservation gathered more residents. I've been a miserable failure as a people pleaser, try as I might, but attempting to people please wasn't peacemaking. I have learned that people pleasers draw quarrelsome and critical controllers. We're like chaos magnets, and confusion sponges. We take it in, try to convert it all to something pleasant, and end up stuffing, and still not pleasing those around us. Not to mention, the boil over isn't pretty when the stuffing hits maximum capacity.
In the last year and a half, I re-edited my book 5 times, after the editor said it was ready. I changed the cover upon advisement, and every holiday gathering had to be rescheduled. As for trying to hang on to managing my new business. The only label of mine that did not get overridden, re-sized, replaced, or rewritten, was my basic soap label, and that was attempted more than once. The catalogue is changed, the product line is expanded far beyond what I set out to do, and when it's all said and done, none, absolutely none of the people I was trying to please, were pleased with me yet! And the critiques and input I asked for, it's still sitting here, untouched. To think, I gave up my own peace in an attempt to just keep jumping through hoops. I'm so thankful to have realized this, because the preservation is about to take on new residents.
People pleasing is not peacemaking. The G-d of Abraham has some interesting things to say about peace. He says if I please HIM, HE'll make even my enemies be at peace with me. Perhaps just a quiet distance is peaceful. HE says I have to love my enemies, and I love them at a quiet distance, sort of like the Rabbi's prayer for the Czar in "Fiddler on the Roof." The one thing the G-d of Abraham never said, was that we had to please people to have peace.

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Cleaning House

When you've done all you can do. Even when you love someone or like someone, that's no guarantee they'll return the feelings. Sometimes life on the preservation just requires an overhaul and this week is it! I'm not a big fan of an official day to give thanks, as I feel pretty thankful and try to be grateful every day, so an annual Thursday isn't really my cup o' tea. Not to mention the whole immigration issue this country has been having for centuries now. Listening to so many white Americans griping about immigration doesn't really put those of us of Native descent in the mood to celebrate just how much immigrants do change the landscape of a nation. I can voice historically and sound very removed, but truth of the matter is, family gatherings make me tense, and for the most part always have. There were some fun gatherings at Grandpa and Grandma's, but we always had to leave early to make the "rounds" on the other side of the family and those were just always painfully awkward . . . I had a great time with my cousins at Grandpa and Grandma's. Those guys were the best, One of them passed away earlier this year, quite suddenly and by my estimation quite young, for death, anyway. Being thankful every day is much more appealing than setting aside a day to contemplate extreme emotions. A few years back I was what I will now refer to as emotionally blackmailed into having a dinner for company. The deal was, that particular year, Hanukkah and Christmas break overlapped. It only happens about every three or four years I think and the grandchildren and I had really been looking forward to this. We'd talked about 2008 for at least two years! Well the season began to roll around and I ended up making a big dinner for not only my grandchildren and daughter but my ex-son-in-law to boot and they were staying the entire week-end. Well, knowing the next month held such promise I reluctantly agreed to it. It was okay, I mean for once I wasn't getting yelled at or cussed out, so it was as pleasant a time as I remember with those of us who were in attendance. The real deal went sour the next month, however; when not only did I get gypped out of the deal, my grandkids only got to be here for two days of the entire vacation and it cost me a real argument to get that much time. Historically and personally "Thanksgiving Day" just isn't working for me. I've already celebrated the real harvest celebration of Sukkot, and even this year, breaking my arm the first day of the celebration trumped Thanksgiving Day memories. So, I'll remain thankful every day of the year for the many blessings I do have and Thursday, I'm going to do something that I will be grateful for, for months to come! I'm cleaning my pantry and laundry room! It may sound like a sad commentary or somber reality, but all things considered, it really will be of lasting value and enjoyable. I'm at the point in life, pretending we're something we're not just takes too much energy for the hypocrisy. A clean laundry room really is preferable to an annual day of tension and strife, and mountain of dishes.
Better is a dry morsel, and quietness therewith, than an house full of sacrifices with strife.

Thursday, November 15, 2012

EPIC

According to WordWeb, the meaning for the term, epic is: Very imposing or impressive; surpassing the ordinary (especially in size or scale)
EPIC is the name of a privately held health care software system. It's used in hospital in-patient, out-patient, all sorts of data and billing in a large number of facilities.
. . .Now we have mandatory Health Care Reform.
Although this is not a political blog, this level of control over our individual bodies is a subject of life on the preservation. People of the Preservation trust G-d for their health, and that is going to become a legal matter very soon. What will be done to the parents of children who choose to not participate in the mandatory health care program of the government? What becomes of the spiritual well-being or even the freedom of the people who do participate? Those are not questions I want to have to answer, nor do I relish the thought of helping others address these issues that have been so programmed into our system.
I believe the basic truth of the matter is quite simple and those of us in covenant are seeking to live by that basic truth. There is just no getting around the fact that sin, disease, and death are connected, and G-d is love, life, and our healer. G-d has given very clear Instruction regarding diet, rest, sexuality, work, anxiety, family, and communicable disease, just to name a few. If we sought the Instructions by the Creator, we would have many fewer health issues. There are few, very few times when someone seeks medical treatment, that one of these issues does not come into play with a recommendation for change.
I was shocked by the name of this huge system of technology, but I was also a bit relieved. It's not like the name of the system itself doesn't give warning!
Before EPIC becomes EPIC in each of our lives, we need to seek our Healer.
And said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of YHWH thy G-d, and wilt do that which is right in His sight, and wilt give ear to His commandments, and keep all His statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am YHWH that heals thee.


http://cnsnews.com/blog/craig-bannister/obamacare-s-mini-firewall-may-force-employers-snoop-around-employees-household

Sunday, November 11, 2012

A Reverence for Our Creator

This blog will not be used politically, but this past week was a national election and since I don't participate, I would like to take this opportunity to state why.
For all those who have directly instructed their audience, or those who have claimed to "vote the Bible" Can you please tell me where voting and elections are mentioned in the Bible? A G-dly nation does not write it's own laws, it goes by G-d's. Therefore, by definition around the world, there are no G-dly nations. With that perspective, do you think Daniel voted in Babylon? Or how about Y'hshuwah and the Apostles? We know they paid taxes, yet Y'hshuwah continued to speak of being a part of another kingdom and so are his followers. Besides, what did anyone vote for? Everyone I heard was voting against something. Conservatives always vote against gay issues and abortion. I have this observation. Abortion has been legal since 1973. In that time, there has been at least 6 years in which the White House was occupied by a republican, the Congress was republican majority, both House and Senate, and the Supreme Court had 7 out of 9 justices appointed by republican presidents; and yet Roe vs. Wade was not reversed. It isn't going to be reversed! What truly offends me is the fact that the political group that is supposedly so deeply opposed and offended, continuously uses that desperately sad subject just for politics. As for the legalization of cannabis. What G-d fearing country renders creation to be illegal, in the first place? . . .
I've seen videos and news clips of federal agents destroying crops that are perfectly legal according to the state laws, and regardless of state referendums, it is still illegal on a federal level. G-d has already been removed from the classroom, the public square, the court house, and I'm not sure there is a church that will let Him in, so why not just put out a warrant for His arrest regarding the creation of herbs? Technically that is the manufacturing or production of an illegal substance! There is a complete loss of reverence for our Creator in our society and it cannot be remedied by an election. It's a matter of the heart and the heart of the matter is simple. To walk in covenant with YHWH and follow Y'hshuwah, one must choose between G-d and mammon [materialism,] and our society has attempted to blend them. There is no doubt mammon weighs heavy in the election and G-d shares HIS glory with no one. HE put it in writing, HE's given us fair warning. Since my citizenship is in the kingdom of heaven, I didn't participate in the election, and I don't regret that decision.

Friday, November 2, 2012

Communication and Perspective

Some still believe the internet is pure evil and some have changed band wagons from pro to con, and con to pro. I know back in the 90s when my folks suggested I get a computer, I responded with, "at this time it's a modern tower of babel to me" and it was. My only college incomplete, was a computer class. When I very clearly heard a definite direction for ministry on the internet, I stepped in, totally clueless of the interactive computer workings, but sure of the leading. That was three weeks before 9/11. Much has changed in the world and on the net, for that matter.
I am blessed to have acquaintances all over the world. For many of us, the internet is the only way we know each other, but I’ve found it to also be a wonderful way to communicate with those I know in real time as well. There is something about communicating by e-mail and messaging that has helped me spiritually . . . We all know folks that are simply difficult to communicate with. Some are just not interested in listening, others already have their minds made up, and still others just want to know "the dirt." The internet keeps it easier for me to differentiate and communicate discerningly.
You know, even G-d doesn’t speak to everyone, but HIS written word is available. Being in HIS image, I’ve realized my written word accomplishes more than my spoken words ever could, and even if they are taken out of context, I have record of what I wrote in the context in which it was written.
The only verbal communication I truly participate in anymore, other than my semi-monthly trips to town, is prayer, my radio show and the time I spend talking with the critters, so probably 85% of everything I express and receive is through my keyboard and screen. My spoken communication is minimal.
As I type, I’ve come to realize, not only do I use spell check more than I thought I would, but this form of communication is also a “spirit check.” I find, I express far less that I regret, and I don’t receive as much information that is difficult to forgive. I am grateful for the time to "spirit check" my words. In that sense the computer has much more potential than the spoken word of humanity. I realize there are those who would hide behind screens typing cruelty, but discernment tells me their mouth would be no more pleasant. I've received so many more pleasant messages than unpleasant and what few unpleasant ones that have come my way, I'm just so grateful I didn't have to stand there and listen to them and I'm glad I had time to consider my response, rather than simply blurting out in anger . . .
For those I haven't met in real time, but know through the internet, I'm grateful for this opportunity, and for those who I do know in real time and this is the choice of communication, I'm also grateful . . .
Whoso keepeth his mouth and his tongue keepeth his soul from troubles. a Proverb of Holy Scripture