Less is more...

It is a week into the New Year. I breathe a sigh of relief; the Christmas decorations are stashed, I've accumulated a box of no longer treasured momentoes to be dropped off at a thrift store, my "Thank You" notes are written...Yes, I am feeling pretty good about myself and then I step on the scale in the bathroom. "Yikes!" I exclaim as I jump off and back away .
It happens every year (those pesky pounds), but it still manages to come as a shock when I see them displayed in black and white. "Drat!" I mutter, glancing at the mirror and hoping it isn't watching. There is no denying that "Lumpy" is bad when found in a bed, in gravy, or on a body.     
Quickly I move away from the mirror, deciding I would rather converse with myself than have the mirror bring it up, having some time ago realized it is no longer my friend when it became rather bold in it's asserting it's negative opinions about me in our chance meetings.   
There was a time, in past years, when I made a long list of my "Resolutions", but that turned into one more thing that ultimately mocked me, since I failed at most of them.  
I do believe in goal setting, and have had some success's with accomplishing them. But, the yearly charting of goals at the New Year, for me, is like being assigned a ghostly taskmaster to follow me around, assuring me I will be making most of them again in a year - having been unfulfilled.  And, I have to give him credit - he's been right in his predictions much of the time. Of course, he is simply stating the obvious; emotionally driven goals are doomed to futility, opposite of goals that are rational, decidedly manageable, and can be willed into being after disciplines are established that will make them possible to attain.   
So, I begin this year with just three resolutions. One is to reach higher in my spiritual life. The second is to make each day count. And, the third is to grab hold of the ideas that come to me; that I believe are the essential part of what makes the human animal unique and very special to our Maker. 
Somehow, in the simplicity of less being more, I feel pretty optimistic about attaining more of the goals that used to comprise my long lists. And, my "Amen" to attaining success is when I remember that one of the Holy Spirit's names is "Helper".  How wonderful to not have to do it alone!                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

 

A 'Barak' New Year

It seems so shallow to use the prefaces"Happy" and "Merry" as greetings during what are, for many, one of the most difficult seasons of the year. 

Our constitution defines "Happy" as "the pursuit of happiness". Happy, by definition, means to feel "pleasure or contentment" or to have "a sense of confidence and/or satisfaction with a person, arrangement, or situation". It's synonyms are to be "glad, fortunate, joyful, lucky, merry, cheerful" - a tall order for those who are barely making it, uncertain of their futures, and accosted by uncertainty. In truth, while meant well, such greetings are nothing more, and another casualty of our culture, "Merry Christmas" has become, for many, a test to see who will say it back. 

The Amplified Bible defines the word "blessed" as "happy, fortunate, and to be envied".  The Hebrew word for blessed is 'Barak'. Jeff Penner, in Ancient Hebrew Word Meanings" describes the verb barak as "to bless as seen in Genesis 12:2 but can also mean kneel as seen in Gensis 24:11. A related Hebrew word is 'berakah' meaning a blessing, or a gift or present. From this we can see the concrete meaning behind 'barak' in the sense of a blessing. It is to bring a gift to another while kneeling out of respect. The entended meaning of this word is to do or give something of value to value to another. God blesses us by providing for our needs and we in turn are to 'Bless' God by giving him of ourselves as his servants."

The word 'entitlement' has bobbed to the top  of 'hot' words this year; and, if one is looking for it, the effects of what it refers to are everywhere. The fact is that, as believers, we are the recipients of Grace, offered without cost or recrimination - and we are certainly not entitled to it.  If we take the meaning of "barakah" literally, we are essentially 'kneeling' before Him when we 'kneel' before another and offer them the gift of His grace that we received when it was offered to us. 

True Christlike humility becomes, in a sense, our posture when offering eternity in Heaven to another; and truly should bring us to our knees when we recall  that "While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us". I wish you a "Barak New Year"!