The Pendulum of Time

Busy days....evolving one into another... Days into weeks....weeks into months...and months into years.  You are eighteen and wake up in your thirties.  Time....faster and faster...the pendulum wound.  When will it slow down? 
Were we created for this?  Created for the chaos?  Isn't life to be celebrated...to be cherished?  I look at my babies sleeping.  Babies they are no longer, though to me they always will be.  My oldest is nearly my height.  When did that happen?  She borrows by socks and occasionally my shoes.  Yesterday I held her tiny body in my arms.  Time......
  Why is it we allow time to pass as it does?  Why don't we stop and ponder things?  Stop and listen....stop and acknowledge the sounds.  Study the intricacies of those closest to us, those we take for granted.  Why can't we take that step?  What keeps us from embracing the cherished?
  Expectations?   Money?  Education?  In themselves not bad, but thieves of priority.   We work...day in and day out to stay ahead.  To stay ahead of the illusive....and fear, maybe?  And in reality, a fear of what?  Of who?   Who are the Jones's anyway?  And who would downsizing really hurt?  A smaller home, a cheaper car.....one less degree....  Hours...time free to spend with those important to us....slowing the pendulum.  And in the end, a legacy.  A legacy...of love.  Time well spent.  A giving of ourselves...that makes another know they're worth something.
  Tonight I watch my babies sleep, and I know time is short.  They will only be ours to hold a numbered amount of years....then gaining their own wings.  I pray I can make the most of it.

Written In Love,
    Candis

Grace

 Feelings.   Emotions.  Running through my mind and heart and out my fingertips.  My hands raised to God releasing them toward heaven.  A connection.  A serious and deep connection:  eternity breached.  Hurt, fear and failure, lifted up and released.  In its place a healing sauve that binds all wounds, erasing scars.  Healing.  Assurance.  Purpose. 
  Strength.  In the confessing my weaknesses are bound.  Sheer power is unleashed when the doors are opened.  The doors must remain open.  Trading death for life and embracing love.  A gift not earned.  Never earned only given away.  Grace.
  Freely given.  Though purchased through the pain of death.
  Freely given.  Though only a few will reach down to grasp hold of it.
Feelings.  Emotions.  The language of the heart.  Interpreting a world not our own.
  Thank God for Grace.

Calling Your Heart

 So near you, and you pay Him no mind.  You feel alone, and yet He's right next to you.  You question and He is the answer.  You hurt and He can heal.  You're scared yet He wants to comfort.  You're hungry and He waits to feed you.  You're needing wisdom and He's there to give it.   He's patient....waiting.  You feel let down...He's waiting to lift you up.  You need only to give Him your attention.  Give Him your life, invite Him in.  God wants a relationship with you.  You are a child created by the Master Craftsman.  Do you know how much He loves you?  His son was sent to die in your place.  A penalty for your sin.  And, His only son...His arms out stretched...on a wooden cross.  Of whom was He thinking when His son died....He thought of you.  YOU.  He saw your face.   It was for you that He allowed His son to die.  In that death the cavern created by sin breached so you could then be with Him.   And it's you He so desperately wants to share that with.  He's patiently waiting.  
  You have a choice.  You can choose Him.  If you choose Him, your life will take on a whole new meaning: a radical transformation of healing and wholeness.
  You can also choose to walk away, but know that living apart from Him now will be eternal.
  Your heart was created to be with Him...to praise Him...to be filled with His power and His love.  You were created to be completely and thoroughly loved, by an awesome majestic Father.  He knows your name....He planned you before the beginning of time.  He knows the number of hairs on your head....He's counted the number of tears you've ever cried.  He knows you....completely and thoroughly.  He know every thought you've ever had...every good or hateful thing you've ever done.  He knows you better than you know yourself, because He created you.  You...His masterpiece.   He thoroughly knows you and yet He STILL loves you.  And He gives you a choice as forced love is not true love.  At this moment, He's calling your name.   Answer Him before its too late.  He loves you.  You are precious to Him.  Run into the embrace He's offering you.  He's offering to shelter you from the waves, share your joys, give you wisdom for the journey and to save your soul.  You are loved....so thoroughly loved.

All That From Jewish Courting

 Traditional Jewish courting....a concept I knew existed, but knew nothing about.  The fact I am not Jewish sort excluded me from first hand knowledge..lol.  But I recently heard something regarding this tradition that really blessed me, so I decided to investigate....and now I need to share it.  This is cool stuff....REALLY cool stuff.  It's caused me to look at my relationship with God differently.  NOT joking.  Jewish courting traditions are much more than what you'd think.  I will tell you why.
  Within the confines of a Jewish community, a Jewish boy meets/sees/hears about a sweet Jewish girl.  If both are within marrying age, and the boy really likes her, he goes first to his father.  With his father's blessing, he then goes to her father.  The boy states his intentions and then asks the girls father for the bride price.  Now in Jewish culture (in contrast to other major cultures) the boy must pay for the girl.  Girls are very special to their parents, and the boy must pay her honor by sacrificing for her.  AND,  this price only pays for a CHANCE at her hand.  If the father deems the boy worthy of his daughter and agrees, a deal is reached and a date of communion is set.  The girl is informed by her father who the young man is and of his intentions.  Extended family and friends are invited over to witness the "communion" between the girl and her pursuer.  NO PRESSURE! 
  On the day of the encounter, the nervous boy is brought into the girls home.  Friends and family are waiting.  Can you imagine his nerves?  Nothing in this process is taken lightly...the Jewish daughter is cherished!  A table is placed in the room's center, and on the table, a cup of wine.  The now incredibly nervous boy is placed at one side of the table, while the girl is on the other.  The cup is central.  The boy then asks the girl for her hand in marriage (in front of the many witnesses).  The boy drinks of the cup and then slides it to the girl.  If she does not wish to marry him, she leaves the cup on the table.  If she does wish to marry him, she lifts the cup to her lips and partakes of it...thus communing of the cup with the boy.  A boisterous party then breaks out and the girl is no longer known by her name, but as "the one bought with a price".  Of course she wasn't purchased, she was given a choice, but monetary emphasis is on her value.  She's valued by her family, she's valued by the boy and he's willing to sacrifice for her.
  The next twelve months are spent in preparation for both boy and girl.  The couple won't see each other during this time, the "best man" will relay messages between them.  During the preparation, she will be preparing for her new home, and he will be building it.  The boy actually, with the help of his father will build a "mansion" for his future bride. "Mansion", translating "apartment" is usually adjacent to his parents home.  Father and son build a home for the future couple and its completion is determined by the father.  The young man cannot marry his bride until his father says the home is ready.
  Now the girl never knows when her bride-groom will come for her....she must always be ready.  Because most courtships/preparations last twelve months, she has a good idea of the time, but not an exact date.  So...the girl must be ready and vigilant. 
  On the go ahead of the boys father, the boy and his entourage leave to get his girl.  A loud and joyous procession procede the streets to the girls home.  She's waiting.  Most bridal processions happen at night too and the bride, her attendants and family meet them.  The girl is then placed in the position of honor and brought to the home of the boy where a rabbi or Jewish leader is waiting to marry them.  They are given seven days of exclusion within their new home and a feast follows.
  What is amazing about this you ask? Well, I am not Jewish nor did I marry a Jewish boy.  However, if you read this one more time slowly, you will note some similarities to an amazingly significant event: Christ and His love for the church (and not just those of Jewish decent, but everybody (see 2 Peter 3:9)...Christ and His love for me...for YOU. 
  Christ is that Jewish boy.....and YOU are His bride. Christ has placed unfathomable value on you.  The union He desires in not physical, but spiritual.    Jesus Christ is sitting at the table offering you the cup.  He's sacrificed dearly for you, in the form of His life.  You are so cherished, no amount of money could pay your bride price, it took life...His life. And not only did He die for you, but three days later God raised Him from the dead. You are cherished; Take the cup and drink:  YOU....the "one bought with a price".   He's alive and waiting for His Father to give the okay. He's building your mansion in heaven. He anticipates your arrival.
But first you must drink of the cup. There's nothing you can do outside of that, you must make a choice. You must ask Him into your life, ask Him to forgive your sins...to be your Lord, your Savior.  You're given a choice. You don't have to.   But you are loved more than you know.   If you neglect the cup, you give up the groom. You give up the groom, and your eternity will be spent apart from Him.

  For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord. Romans 6:23

  For God so loved the world He gave His one and only son, that whoever believes in Him, will no perish, but have eternal life.    John 3:16.
Jesus has paid your bride price with His life. He's offering YOU that cup. Will you take it? 

Psalm 139

 You have searched me, Lord,
    and you know me. 

 You know when I sit and when I rise;
    you perceive my thoughts from afar. 

 You discern my going out and my lying down;
    you are familiar with all my ways.

 Before a word is on my tongue
    you, Lord, know it completely. 

 You hem me in behind and before,
    and you lay your hand upon me. 

 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
    too lofty for me to attain.

  Where can I go from your Spirit?
    Where can I flee from your presence? 

  If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
    if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. 

 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
    if I settle on the far side of the sea, 

 even there your hand will guide me,
    your right hand will hold me fast. 

 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
    and the light become night around me,” 

 even the darkness will not be dark to you;
    the night will shine like the day,
    for darkness is as light to you.

 For you created my inmost being;
    you knit me together in my mother’s womb. 

 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
    your works are wonderful,
    I know that full well. 

 My frame was not hidden from you
    when I was made in the secret place,
    when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. 

 Your eyes saw my unformed body;
    all the days ordained for me were written in your book
    before one of them came to be^.

  How precious to me are your thoughts,^[a] God!
    How vast is the sum of them! 

 Were I to count them,
    they would outnumber the grains of sand—
    when I awake, I am still with you.

  If only you, God, would slay the wicked!
    Away from me, you who are bloodthirsty! 

 They speak of you with evil intent;
    your adversaries misuse your name. 

 Do I not hate those who hate you, Lord,
    and abhor those who are in rebellion against you? 

 I have nothing but hatred for them;
    I count them my enemies. 

 Search me, God, and know my heart;
    test me and know my anxious thoughts. 

 See if there is any offensive way in me,
    and lead me in the way everlasting.