86,400 And Counting

On the way to a recipe, I took a turn down a path I have not traveled in many years. Came upon a book about Paleo foods and the “paleo lifestyle”. Oh my! Talk about getting my attention. We, the book “Paleo 101”, and I, took a nice tour. You can find it on Amazon and it is fascinating, even if you aren’t interested in “how it used to be”.

How it used to be? Yeah, back in the hippie days. This book helps the vegan live a healthy lifestyle and ensures proper nutrition, according to the book. My fascination was roused with two sections; a. 86,400 and b. Mind-body awareness. Don’t run away…I once taught/facilitated groups for self-awareness and development of a positive mental attitude. Today we call that “Torah Study”.

One of the modules I facilitated focused on making each moment count. In the book, Paleo 101, the 86,400 framework was explained. Very simple; each day we are given 86,400 seconds to spend as we like. If we do not use all the seconds, when the day ends we lose the left-over. Another day comes and we are given a fresh set of seconds. In the book, we are not told where the seconds come from, if they will come at all or when they may just suddenly cease. We just pretend it is like a direct deposit bank account. Therefore, and I know you have already figured this out, we are encouraged to make every second in our lives count. Not for ourselves, but for others.

In Torah, we learn almost the same thing; except, we learn that our Creator grants us the seconds. We also become aware that we have no control over the next heart beat. The modules that I used ‘in the day’ were close to the same as from the book. The difference was, although I could not at that time invoke Scripture, it was implied. To have this thought come alive, we would use a Big Ben wind-up alarm clock. As the clock ticked loudly, the goal was to focus on the silence between the ticks. You might want to give it a try. When you experience the sound of silence, it is phenomenal. 

 

This may just make sense in a bit. 

Another topic Paleo 101 focused on was “Mind-body awareness”. I won’t detail their take. It was close but again far from Scripture. The basics of mind-body awareness are to learn to focus on what is happening in your physical self and from that gain insight into your spiritual self. This can be very involved so I will short-cut a lot and hope it simplifies and does not disturb anyone. 

 

A simple approach is to bring attention to your heart beat. Get in sync with it mentally. Contemplate the time it takes for a pulse of blood to go from the heart to the big toe. We’re stretching this now so don’t give up on me please. Let’s say, theoretically, it takes 28 seconds, more or less, and so we time from the next beat and track the flow through the body. You are now in contact with your physical self. Now, with the ability to focus on the silence and the ability to focus on the life-flow (the blood flow), we can spiritually connect with our Creator through our “self”. He created us! 

 

Altogether, imagine what all takes place within our “self” within a single space of the silence – between the heart beats! Go ahead, take your time and experience being within your “self”. Listen for the silence while hearing your Father’s Creation. We are a wonderfully and beautifully. There is no doubt in my mind that our Creator wants us to know all about us.

I believe He wants us to come in contact with our “self” as a first step in coming in contact with Him.

HarvestMag http://harvestmag.com/ on its Facebook posting the other day, presented an info graphic stating “Be authentic. The real you is the best you”. The posting is supported in part by the following statement: “We're bombarded by plastic messages, hypocrisy, and people hiding their true selves from others. We are called to be real, genuine, and authentic in our relationships with both Yahweh and others.”

I agree with the posting. There comes a time when we need to wake up and realize that our lives easily become controlled by the environment we live in. If you believe in Teshuvah (Hebrew for return or repent), then you must also believe in order to ‘return’ you had to have already been there at least once. We can lose track of our “self”. Our heavenly Father wants us to come to him fully aware of who we are and where we came from. The more we know about our “self” the more equipped we are to serve the Father. There may be times when we must just sit and be with our “self”. In doing so, we invite our Father in. 

 

There are only 86,400 seconds in a day – let’s not waste them. May our Father be with us and we with Him. 

 

Heavenly Father please continue to guide us and help us on our journey back to You. Thank You for removing the scales from our eyes, in Y’shua’s mighty name, Amein!…..

Romans 12:2, 9, Hebrews 4:13, Philippians 4:8,9

P.S. What recipe was I headed for before all this unfolded? Glad you asked: Paleo Pizza -awesome. Let me not fail to encourage each of you to visit HarvestMag.com or go to their Facebook page. Great insight for young people of all ages – I know, I go there!

Love you all, 

Pinchas, 

a/k/a Frankly speaking all the time

Where Am I?

This is the day that I promised to get back to what I said I would get back to. Time to write the bi-weekly blog about things that go through my mind while I am striving to see the Father’s face.

Let me tell you just the thoughts that are going through my head… the past week with all the hate and destruction going on. It doesn’t seem to stop. I am going to shut down the cable. Don’t need it; don’t watch it. Everyone seems to want to identify the problem with the world in light of all the murders taking place.

I won’t go into refreshing your memory…. just heard another arm-chair psychoanalysis of why the haters did what they did in Boston…that has got me off track for this blog. It has triggered in me a re-run of my child-hood. I was a mean and angry kid… and why did I do what I did? Father, I did not know You then…. All I know is on one occasion, I was told one night to take a bath and while I was in the tub with the cold water (there was no hot water available unless you took your bath outside in the big tub on the fire) so, anyhow I was in the tub and I remember as if it was now; if I drown in this tub they won’t make me take another bath and it will serve them right! Well, I did not drown, and I did wash behind my ears and I continued to be angered and not understanding why we, my family, had to struggle so hard for what? Times have passed. My Father in Heaven brought me through it all. And as I look back I have realized that all that was wrong in my life was I did not have faith in a Savior I could not see. I also realize that I could not hear Him either because I refused to buy into this “stuff”. 

The young boys in Boston were searching for something. They did not find it because they would not permit themselves to hear it. Yes, this is my arm-chair opinion. The people in my early life told me repeatedly that I need to find God. I told them repeatedly that their ‘god’ was not for me. If he was, I wouldn’t be so miserable. This went on for years. I knew within me that something greater than me must exist…but I also knew that the people in my life was not it! All I heard from them was that I was no good, would never be any good and that I needed to be on my knees everyday praying. Praying? What are you talking about? I have been praying! Can’t you hear?

Well, for me, this is a short and brief moment for a blog but I truly believe, the only thing that is wrong with this country, the problems with the world, the only reason anyone would want to harm others or themselves, no matter where they live or who they are is so simple. We, you and I, and all those we know, have permitted this country to turn its back on the Creator of the universe.

It seems that on most Shabbats when we worship there will always be a portion of a prayer someplace asking for the forgiveness of the sins of the fathers. Asking for help in overcoming that which was placed upon us. So, when do the sins of the fathers stop? When do we realize we are the fathers of the subsequent generations? When do we stop permitting haSatan to have way over us?

Oh my, I must be fired up. Got up for a drink of water and looked back on the diatribe! Please don’t misunderstand. I firmly believe that everything that has occurred in our lives was absolutely necessary for this moment in time. For me, this moment is one of joy and gratefulness; as is every moment since my loving and caring Father has welcomed me. He prevented me from turning my back on Him. One day I may explain that, but it is not really necessary. Many of you know what I am saying.

So, where was I? Oh yes! What is going on in my mind at this moment while I seek to see His face? Let me tell you. For about two months now I am fully on my feet; I am regaining so much zest and energy; I am permitted to be the me I was before I got careless; I am excited and delighted and the place is looking good and I only get obnoxious when I hear the news! So, turn off the cable. Gotta’ go!

Proverbs 29:11 A fool gives vent to all his feelings; but the wise, thinking of afterwards, stills them. Proverbs 28:13 He who conceals his sins will not succeed; he who confesses and abandons them will gain mercy.

Shalom…love you … 

Pinchas, aka Frankly Speaking all the time.

The Hidden Revealed

Each year at Purim the young people of our congregation seem to be able to surprise us with a different twist to Esther and the upheaval of Purim itself. This past Shabbat was no exception. I was told that the “children” would step in at various times to take charge of the service. We have done that in the past and it is always quite refreshing.

Leave it to the young folks to take it up a notch. This past Sabbath we were going to keep it simple with a special dance/worship presentation along with the youth participating as the leaders in the service.

In recognition of Purim, there would be a focus on prayer and Purim. The ultimate focus would be on the unseen. When we are in “Prayer”, we acknowledge the presence of YHVH, although He is unseen physically. Prayer is when we put pride aside; when we demonstrate a faith in an unseen; when we express our trust in a Supreme Being. For me, our weekly Sabbath prayer is when we collectively lift YHVH Elohim on high. We literally look up to Him and not at Him.

Psalm 121 says “If I raise my eyes to the hills, from where will my help come?” The operative word is “IF”. If we look elsewhere, where does our help come from? It doesn’t tell us. It does tell us that if we look up to the hills our help will come from YHVH, the maker of heaven and earth. It tells us that He is our guardian. We are assured that He never slumbers nor sleeps.

Purim is about more than just the casting of lots. Purim is about the hidden, the unseen. Some say that Purim is not a true Scriptural celebration because “YHVH (God)” is not mentioned in the Book of Esther. And how can we have Purim without Esther? Rather than go into a detailed teaching, let me just ask you to take note that Esther by definition means to conceal. In Deuteronomy. 31:18 our Father says that He will “surely hide His face from them.” The Hebrew for “I will surely hide” – haster astir – contains the letters of the name Esther. So, the implication is that He will guide and direct from an unseen position. A friend of mine informed me that in the Bible Code of the Hebrew of Esther (the equidistant letter spacing), "YHVH" does appear. I haven’t found the opportunity as yet to search this out. (But, my friend has never misguided me so I am not rushed.)

We speak about coincidences, often referred to as Yah-incidences. In the reading of Esther on Shabbat, we were told ahead of time there would be no need detailing that which would soon be presented. This added to the excitement! We were encouraged however to listen for the Yah-incidences; ie. when the queen (Vashti) just happens to refuse to go to a banquet; when Esther just happens to be chosen as a new queen; when Mordecai just happens to be sitting outside the gate to over hear plans for evil against the king and when the king just happens to rise from a sleepless night, he recalls that Mordacai saved his life. How did this happen if YHVH was not present? He said he would hide. When was the last time that any of us saw Him? Although the Face of Yah is not seen, believers know deep within themselves, that He is not far away.

We are told in Ezekiel 39:21-29 21 "'Thus will I display my glory among the nations, so that all the nations will see my judgment when I execute it and my hand when I lay it on them. 22 From that day on, the house of Isra'el will know that I am YHVH their Elohim; 23 while the Goyim will know that the house of Isra'el went into exile because of their guilt, because they broke faith with me; so that I hid my face from them and handed them over to their adversaries; and they fell by the sword, all of them. 24 Yes, I treated them as their uncleanness and crimes deserved; and I hid my face from them.' 25 "Therefore YHVH Elohim says this: 'Now I will restore the fortunes of Ya'akov and have compassion on the entire house of Isra'el, and I will be jealous for my holy name. 26 They will bear their shame and all their [guilt from] breaking faith with me, once they are living securely in their land, with no one to make them afraid. 27 This will be after I have brought them back from the peoples and gathered them out of their enemies' lands, thereby being consecrated through them in the sight of many nations. 28 Then they will know that I am Yahweh their Elohim, since it was I who caused them to go into exile among the nations, and it was I who regathered them to their own land. I will leave none of them there anymore, 29 and I will no longer hide my face from them, for I have poured out my Spirit on the house of Isra'el,' says YHVH ELOHIM."

The reading from Ezekiel is very pertinent during Purim. Reading the white of the page, we can see that our Father has not “hidden” so much from us as He has made available a lot to us if we just seek His face. The eye opener for me this past Shabbat is what I felt our Father has hidden in His young people. I now realize He hid nothing in them. It was always there. It is just that some of us didn’t see it because we failed to look for it. The Father is truly present in the Book of Esther and He is most definitely present in the hearts of our young people. Their ability to carry-out a complete service, ensuring that nothing was missed, and their joy at doing so, without rehearsal of script, is so very moving. Just when you think they are too young to understand, the Father surprises you and takes another scale from our eyes.

Heavenly Father, thank You so very much for taking the scales away. Thank You for the children that You have brought to teach us. Yes, Father, they do listen, as unlike I have ever noticed before. Sure, they have always been great at programs and such, but this time they stepped up and took the places of the elders without hesitation. Thank You Abba, Most Gracious and Benevolent One, we do pray in earnest to see Your Face. We want to continuously experience Your presence. May the day come soon when You will make restoration of all things a reality in our lives. Oh Abba, may the day come soon when we will all have complete faith and trust in You, seen or unseen. Please let this be a reality in our lives and in Your presence. We come in Y’shua’s Name , Amein!

Shalom and shalom, 

Pinchas, 

a/k/a Frankly Speaking all the time…