Season of Our Joy 4

I always take festive lights to the campout.  Really, I just like colored lights and even clear lights.  But I wanted to do a bit more with my shelter than just a couple of strings of café lights up the middle.  When I got to searching out how people set up their sukkah for Sukkot, I found marketed kits and improvisation.  I knew I would not be buying a kit, but I hoped looking into them would give me some idea of the possibilities.  I found out that a person can research traditional sukkot and modern sukkot and bohemian sukkot.  I thought ‘bohemian sukkot’ was funny-but yes I looked.  Most of them were quite lavish.  That surprised me and I’m not sure why. 
Some were small and some were quite large –like event tents that can be rented and decorated for weddings and anniversaries.  Some were adorned with a simple table, or in the case of the event tents several tables, and chairs and some had furniture in them for sleeping and relaxing. Some were constructed from a pop-up shade type structure and some from a pole type assembly. All were very festive and highly decorated. I even saw a plan in one place for a centerpiece tree made of autumn leaf garland and lights where you could pin messages and blessings or even small gifts for others. Louis and I discussed that Sukkot was like combining our church camp out, Thanksgiving, and Christmas together for a week.  All are times of joy and remembrance, of giving and sharing. 

In curiosity, I walked up to visit my new friend at the end of the cul-de-sac. She was not there, so I just examined their set-up from the road.  It was similar to a large pop-up shade –at least 12’ but maybe 14’ across.  It had sidewalls attached and on the corners it was adorned with scarves bearing the star of David. There were lights, branches and flowers incorporated.  It was placed over the picnic table and there were small tables at the ends of the picnic table and a long buffet style table to one side. They had an RV that they were staying in.  The cul-de-sac was full of various camping rigs and tents.  Each had a shelter of some type over the picnic table that was somewhat decorated but very individual.  At the beginning of the cul-de-sac, there was another large shade structure.  I didn’t know they made them that large.  It was barely decorated at all -just a few light strings.  The one closest to our campsite had simply made a canopy of lights tied tree to tree and across above the table.  It left them open to the elements, but they had a huge tarp fixed above their camping tent that came to the ground in back but extended up and out in front with room for chairs and small tables.  I was totally fascinated.

 I was ready to make the trip to Fort Smith to serve and retrieve some pretties to make my sukkah sweeter.  I brought back scarves mainly and a few more lights along with some items for the kitchen and cabin tent.

On Thursday, we moved our camp to it’s weekend spot.  We may have looked silly toting stuff from one end of campground C to the other.  But I was very excited to do so.  It had been a rainy morning and we were changing from our small tent that we use for travel camping to our cabin tent that gives more room to a large bed, a big black dog’s bed and our personal stuff.  Some things we drove across the campground, but some things, including the sukkah, took too much time to disassemble and so we carried them.

One of the purposes of Sukkot was to commemorate God’s presence and protection as they wandered in the wilderness.  I found myself thinking about that as we moved.  Even  moving camp such a short distance –maybe a block in the city- took so much effort, planning and time.  What was it like for 40 years?

I put my kitchen tent and rack together.  We put up the cabin tent and got it situated.  We carried over the sukkah and got it positioned over the picnic table.  I put my lulav together and set it in water in an old coffee pot that I inherited from a friend so the leaves would stay fresh for the rest of the week.  I set my etrog in it’s protective if somewhat transparent box.  I draped my scarves at the front and back of my small sukkah made of pvc pipe and clear plastic.  The café lights were strung across the center pipe and then down the tree at the back.  With two festive scarves hung to each side and three more festooned in the front, it looked very nice.  I was happy.  Between meals –which we shared with our fellowship group- I kept bowls of snacks and fruit on the table for passers by.  It was the season of our joy.

Season of Our Joy 3

This blog may turn a well schooled Jew inside out.  I apologize for any offense and yet it was the spirit in which the offering was gathered and presented that I felt was important. 

So many things I didn’t really understand and many things I didn’t really know about as I ventured into this week long celebration.  I didn’t know about the symbolism –though I had read of the wave offering- of the lulav and etrog many times through my studies. I was going to try to find a citron fruit while we were in Fort Smith, but I didn’t get to the store for it.  I had a lime with me and substituted that for my heart.  I believe it was as I said in my last blog the effort becoming the essence for this year. I did have a small plain plastic box to hold it, but it had no embellishment at all.  I’ll have to look into that.

I flat out forgot to take the palm branch. We have some that would have done nicely, but we got away Wednesday night without it. Louis was the one who spied the oak branch with leaves that looked like ‘hands’.  We had a myrtle branch for the eyes but no willow to represent the offering of our lips.  We looked about for something representational.  We found a species that somewhat resembled the mouth and put it in with our others.

As I was cleaning up that night before going to bed, I was talking casually with God.  I told him I wanted the willow branch because I felt like if there was one of the four things that I most needed to offer it was my mouth.  I have such a problem controlling what I will allow out of my lips.  I finished my tasks and went to bed.

The next morning I took Willow out at dawn for our walk to watch the sunrise.  He insisted that we go down the road a different direction than I was of a mind to go, but since it wasn't a big issue to me I followed him.  We went out the west side of the campground and came down a road to the main east-west highway that travels through the park. It came out at the road into the overflow camping/ dump station/ boat ramp area.  We took that road and as we approached the boat ramp, I saw that there was a earthen pier sticking out into the lake.  That would be a lovely place to watch the sunrise.  I walked out to the end of it and took a picture or two, but there was another earthen pier between me and what would soon be the rising sun.

So we went to the second pier which was a great place to photograph the sunrise and the mist that was hovering over the lake.  And at the end of the pier I found a willow tree.  How good is God!

That morning when the shofar sounded, I offered my hands, my eyes, my lips and my heart with great joy.  God cares and he lets us know he cares about this day, this offering, this need.

Season of Our Joy 2

One of the fun parts of the story in Ezra, for me, is that because they had lost track of the ‘Feast’, families didn’t get their sukkah (singular of Sukkot) up until the 2nd day of the festival.  I was right on schedule. I had thought to use the kitchen tent as my sukkah, but during set-up the first day, we decided that our temporary site was really too small for the kitchen and the quanset was a better choice anyway.  Food was cooked over the fire and eaten under the shelter.  Until the move on Thursday, we also shared our sukkah with cooking supplies and food, but since there were only 2 of us, it worked well.  There was a peace and joy about it as crude as it was.  

The main concentration was for a thankful heart and a joyful spirit. It was to be celebrated with kindness and exuberance. It is a remembrance of the provision of God through the past year and an affirmation of the protection and provision of God through the coming difficult time of winter.  They shared blessings and gifts with others who were less fortunate. One week without sorrow, complaint or worry; these were to be replaced by joy, faith and celebration.  The people were cautioned to not even allow the sorrow for their sin to interfere with their joy.  I only veered off the path a couple of times briefly and God reminded my spirit that it was a week for thanksgiving and joy; other things were to be left to trust in God to take care of the hard times and difficult situations.  It was easier there than I would have thought.

One of my greatest joys is sunrise.  Each day I woke and walked with my buddy, Willow and then headed out to find a spot to enjoy the sunrise.  They were all gorgeous colors in a wonderful setting –mostly at some part of the lake.  Each day began with joy in the grace and provision of God for that moment.  I would return to the camp and, together with my mr., prepare breakfast.  Almost without fail, the shofar from the messianic group would blow just as we began to eat.  The end of that cul-de-sac was right behind us, so we could hear their excitement.  More joy.

As I was learning, listening to videos, viewing pictures from the web, I was sharing with Louis.  We both got excited about ways to increase our fun and celebrate there in the open air.  I learned about the succah and saw examples of how they decorated them.  I learned about the foods included in bible times and today.  My visit with the lady at the bathhouse had made me aware of kosher marshmallows. I had never considered that.

My mind began exploring.  I didn’t want to lose the essence in the effort, but I began to feel that the effort applied with joy was the essence.  The celebration is thick with symbolism- both commemorative and prophetic.  We had to go back home on Wednesday to serve our church.  I planned to bring things back to decorate and to celebrate.  By Wednesday noon, I had learned so much.  But I was beginning to see how much more there was to discover.

Season of Our Joy 1

I am always amazed at the way God blesses me.  To be sure sometimes he has blessed me by not giving what I asked.  But so often he does exactly what I need.  My camp out this year was an amazing time of blessing and interaction with my God.  I will be posting for several days instead of all in one blog.  There is just so much I want to journal and document while it is fresh.  I hope you will be blessed to travel on this virtual adventure with me.

This year, so far, has been a very stressful year and as I get older, that becomes harder on me physically, spiritually and emotionally.  God is my strength.  Wisdom is my health.  But I still struggle to keep my balance of ‘trust’ and ‘do it’.

In September I decided that I would extend the time at Petit Jean for the fall campout to a week for rest, reflection and renewal.  I prayed about it and made reservations for the extra days.  I kept thinking, “I should be praying more, I should be preparing myself better for this time.”  Oh, but God. . . !

About a week before I was going, I realized that the week I would be there would coincide with what is often referred to as “The Feast of Tabernacles” but is called “Sukkot” by those who observe it.  I knew I didn’t know enough and wasn’t prepared enough to really observe it in a literal sense, but I felt compelled to learn and submit my mind and spirit to it.  I began to research and make plans.  I would take my hot box along so I could do more when I got there.  I was excited about this time of discovery, though I had no real clue where it would take me.

The first thing I found was the definition of the festival: “The season of our joy.” “The ingathering.” It was observed after harvest.  Sukkot means temporary shelters, sometimes called booths.  The next is that it is inclusive.  Gentiles were invited to participate.  Though I have a Jewish heritage, I have been raised as a non-Jew. Oh yes, we did attend some Jewish events when I was a teen, but mostly as outsiders.  So I felt encouraged to participate to the level I could.

I was a bit discouraged that I would need to spend most of the first day, which should be a day of rest and worship, getting ready and going and then setting up.  But I was directed to Nehemiah 8.  v8 They read from the Book of the Law of God, making it clear and giving the meaning so that the people understood what was being read.

9 Then Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priest and teacher of the Law, and the Levites who were instructing the people said to them all, “This day is holy to the Lord your God. Do not mourn or weep.” For all the people had been weeping as they listened to the words of the Law.

10 Nehemiah said, “Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”

11 The Levites calmed all the people, saying, “Be still, for this is a holy day. Do not grieve.”

12 Then all the people went away to eat and drink, to send portions of food and to celebrate with great joy, because they now understood the words that had been made known to them.

The people of Israel had been living in captivity for 70 years.  For that time they had not gathered or celebrated or worshipped as a nation.  When they heard the words of the law and realized their disobedience and neglect, they began to mourn.  But Ezra stopped them.  “It’s time to celebrate a week of thanksgiving.  The joy of the Lord is your strength.”

And so in this mindset, I set off on Monday for Petit Jean Mountain for a week of discovery and celebration.  Just as we completed setting up our tent and heating up our supper, we heard a shofar.  Shortly after, chanting and then singing began-enthusiastic singing and clapping.  I could see in my mind’s eye dancing as well.  Louis said “I want to walk around there and see what’s going on.”  But after supper, we cleaned away the dishes, put things into animal safe places and prepared to go to bed. At the bathhouse, I met a lady and in a few minutes I found that the music had come from their area.  She was with a messianic group that was staying for a full week and a day.  They had the entire cul-de-sac behind us.  She apologized for any disturbance, to which I replied that we loved it and I myself was investigating the ‘Feast’ during the time I was waiting on the rest of my group to come in for the weekend.  After some discussion, we parted ways and I was again amazed at the provision of my Father.

Lost vs Misplaced

There is a big difference between misplaced and lost.  Each has it’s plus and each has it’s dread. 

I buy fairly expensive shampoo and conditioner because I have hair that needs it.  I left my shampoo and conditioner in the shower at the campground.  The trip would be more expensive than the replacement.  I understand the truth in that and accept that it is gone.  I will not get it back.  I’ve lost my shampoo and conditioner.  It’s a bit of an expensive lesson for it was fairly new; it makes me feel frustrated.  Shampooing with what’s in the bathroom here is less than optimum, but my hair smelled of smoke and I needed to wash it.  The conditioner makes my hair soft – actually too soft.  It looks very limp and the curl isn’t even.  One day soon, I’ll sigh and buy a new set.  And next time, I’ll set in place a method for remembering to get it.  But in the scope of things, the loss was not catastrophic.  I’ll not be ruined by it.  Lost means I don’t get it back –at all.  I replace it or live without it.  If the loss causes me difficulty, I live with it.  It’s done.

Misplaced feels like lost.  While up on the mountain, I bought a waist pack at the Outpost.  I like it and was willing to pay a bit more because it looks nice and is just the right size to hold things I need when I hike or walk.  It was the only one they had in that style. Honestly, it wasn’t much more than the shampoo and conditioner will be to replace.  After I bought it, I tossed it on a tub full of stuff in my front passenger seat for the ride home.  It was there when I got back in the car after a pit stop on the way home.  I noticed it and was again pleased with the purchase.  Unloading the car, I misplaced it.  My husband tried to help me find it, knowing how much I liked it.  We backtracked and thought through the process and considered the possibilities.  I put it on at the overlook just before we came off the mountain.  I had adjusted it to my size and it held my phone and a second lens and several other items as we walked around.  Yes I know it was in the car when we left there.  No I couldn’t have left it at the gas station, because I didn’t get it out and also I saw it there when I got back in.  And yet the more we looked the more it seemed to have vanished.  It appeared I had lost it, but I knew it had to be somewhere. This morning, a day and a half later, I found it in a very unlikely spot.  I’d grabbed it along with my large water filter assembly in the unpacking process.  It was in my clay room on the stool beside the wheel.  I was as tickled as I had been when I first saw it in the outpost.  What seemed lost was only misplaced and now it is mine to enjoy once more.

I have lost things several times in my life –some of them crucial with serious repercussions; some of them frivolous and easily forgotten.  I have misplaced things many times –some of them crucial with serious repercussions; some of them frivolous and easily forgotten.  Yet when an item is truly lost, it is no longer mine in any sense but memory.  When an item is misplaced, it is still mine and will one day surface even if it is beyond it’s usefulness.

I feel there is a great lesson in this.  It bears consideration.

To win a battle -Go and the LORD be with you

"Go and the LORD be with you." 1Samuel 17: 37

The army of Israel went to war, but could not fight the battle.  They camped out on a hillside across the valley from the enemy.  They had no strategy to win.  Perhaps they were waiting for something or someone to reveal a plan that could work.  David said “I will do it.”  This didn’t seem like the plan, but no one else had a plan.  The blessing of Saul based on a hopeless situation became reinforcement of David’s determination based on trust and spiritual awareness.
Saul dressed David in his own fighting attire.  David was spiritually attuned enough to know he could not fight in someone else's attire. I don't think Saul's clothing was too big for David necessarily, though Saul was very tall. When Saul says he is only a youth, the indication is David was young and inexperienced not that he was a small child. But David knew how he interacted with his God, and he knew that this victory would depend on him being connected to his God. Saul's attire came between David and what he knew to be true about God.

We should listen and study and discipline ourselves, but ultimately our victory will come from our relationship to God. Probably the worst thing we can do is to allow another person to change our strategy when we know it is true and when it is based in our trust in God. David was sensitive to God's will. Solitude among the sheep had given David an inner reliance on God and an understanding of God's ability in dire situations. He had to proceed in what he knew.  

The miracles of God are full of one on one.  With a staff in one hand, a sling in the other and 5 smooth stones taken from the stream and placed in his shepherd's bag as he advanced, David approached Goliath.
Goliath approached David.  One translation says Goliath kept coming toward David.  Sometimes we think that as soon as we declare we will stand for God and right that the enemy will stop advancing.  We should not be surprised that our enemy continues to loom larger and threaten louder.  But we must hold in our mind that the battle is the LORD’s.

Though he was much taller, the description states that he was between 9 and 10 foot in height, Goliath had a shield bearer going in front of him.  I’m thinking “How tall was that shield bearer?”  If he was a normal sized soldier, then much of Goliath was vulnerable.  David just had to aim high.

According to battle protocol, Goliath was doing it all right and David was doing it all wrong.  Not only was he ‘young’, he wasn’t even dressed for conflict.  But David didn’t allow Goliath’s indignation, accusation, or insults to slow him down or deter his progress.  David didn’t consider the threats of Goliath viable because he knew the battle was God’s battle.  God was his armor, shield bearer and the strength of his throwing arm.  

Fear Not!

I do not fear heaven. I do not fear death, because I trust the promise of heaven. I do not fear onliness because my God is always with me and his love surrounds me. I have lived with success and failure. I have lived with honor and disgrace. I have lived with appreciation and with rejection. I have eaten steak and cordon bleu and I have eaten rice and potatoes. It’s just food either way and when it’s gone, it’s gone. I have worn fancy clothing and precious stones and I have worn cheap earrings and clearance rack clothing. I’ve driven new cars and I’ve driven old clunkers that barely got me from one place to another. None of that made me more or less of a person or dulled the flame inside. This is not to say that I cannot be brought low. I had a car wreck that stole more than I could imagine from me and a God who gave back more than I would have ever thought. I’ve looked death and disability in the eye and reacted as humans react and yet was loved and delivered. I’ve had my greatest dream crushed more than once –and once by my own doing. I have been degraded and deceived. And through it I lived. 5 years ago, I was given news about my health that I would not accept –again. Since before that revelation until now, I have lived with rheumatoid arthritis. I recall a time when I used to think it was a joke. But aside from the pain and swelling that is disabling if allowed to progress, when I get an infection, it touches my whole body. Along with the attack that is waged on my body, the lack of desire to keep doing it one more time becomes the greater enemy. I believe in divine healing. As yet, divine healing has not come to this disease. When diagnosed, I chose not to take the medications they prescribed and opted for a total change in diet and a life of discipline. God has been good to me through that. Yesterday I was ill, brought on by careless neglect, just a slight kidney infection. It would have been a small thing at one time but not so when it is governed by my silent partner. I had to fight just to walk upright. I was achy and distracted by pain most of the day. I went from task to task just to get through the hours until my efforts could rectify the damage I had done to myself. The relief was slow coming. Tonight my face and arms were hot and bumpy with the red places that follow any strong internal distress. I doctored them with my herbal remedy before laying down. Each day and year I stand closer to heaven, my final destination. That does not discourage me. I do have fears. I will tell you of them. I fear living beyond my usefulness. I fear living past my final sunrise or last creative venture. I fear losing my freedom to decide when to rise and what to eat. I fear losing the ability to laugh and see the humor in things around me. I fear losing the right to give to others or to teach a lesson or to lead a craft. I fear not being allowed to live in my own space, eat my own cooking and listen to music that feeds my soul and spirit. I am not a poor soul because I am sick or because I may be misunderstood when I am sick. I am only poor when I do not trust God’s best for my present and my future. I will never be perfect by the human eye’s standard but I am perfect in the eyes of my Father because of the work of his Son completed in whole on the cross. He rose to give me ‘new.’ Should my greatest fears become reality, it is trust that will bring me through it to the other side. And should my greatest hope be realized, it is trust that will bring me through it with a right heart and mind. 1 Peter 1:6 In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Hebrews 12:10 God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.

To Win the Battle

Ecclesiastes 9:11

The race is not to the swift
    or the battle to the strong,
nor does food come to the wise
    or wealth to the brilliant
    or favor to the learned;
but time and chance happen to them all.

12 Moreover, no one knows when their hour will come:

This morning I was reading in 1 Samuel 17.  It’s a story full of questions and wonder and passion and faith.  As mentioned in another blog: Family Ties, David was going from group to group asking what would be the reward for killing the giant Goliath.  The soldiers all set out wealth and honor and the hand of a princess as the prize to be claimed.  They all knew the answer, so it wasn’t really a foreign idea or a new question, obviously.  David would leave one group as soon as he got an answer and go to another.  That fact was always odd to me since he was going to be the one to ultimately accomplish the feat.  But if you read it as though you’ve never read it before, it might seem that David was trying to inspire confidence and action within the heart of some would be champion.  There were no champions to face Goliath among the army of Israel.

  What David said was overheard and reported to Saul, and Saul sent for him.

 David said to Saul, “Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him.”

 Saul replied, “You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a young man, and he has been a warrior from his youth.”

 But David said to Saul, “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. (I’m sure that statement caught Saul’s confidence right off.)  When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God.  The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.”

Saul said to David, “Go, and the Lord be with you.”

There were stories aplenty passed from generation to generation of victories and intervention by God on Israel's behalf.  David had learned to trust and follow God as a shepherd boy.  When he was first introduced to Saul he was described as a warrior and yet he’d never fought in an army.  His son Solomon would in his old age pen the words at the opening of this write.  They most likely came from the heart of his father the warrior king.

In Psalm 33, David wrote:

  No king is saved by the size of his army;
    no warrior escapes by his great strength.
   A horse is a vain hope for deliverance;
    despite all its great strength it cannot save.
  But the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him

It becomes obvious that the message of this encounter with a lethal opponent is that with God you will succeed at any task where trust meets need.  David didn’t use Saul’s armor to protect himself.  He knew that his protection was in God or it wasn’t.  He knew that his victory would be in God or it wouldn’t.  That’s why he could approach a giant with only a shepherd’s staff and 5 stones.  It makes a great story.  But what if you can’t believe that much?  We often feel that faith is a quantitative substance and some of us have it and others don’t.  And yet, God addresses that issue within scripture as well.

Isaiah 30: 15  This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says:

“In repentance and rest is your salvation,
    in quietness and trust is your strength,
    but you would have none of it.”

I must admit that I want to see the miraculous.  I want God to come in like the waters in Lord of the Rings.  I want instant harmless undemanding results by just asking.  I want God’s favor in my fights without any test.  You know, there have been those moments in my life.  They were awesome.  Yet there have been many times when a fellow soldier had to lift my head out of the dirt to see that the enemy was vanquished.  And some people have died in the process.  If my hope is only in my own desire, if my pride is only in my reputation, if earthly destruction is my only fear, then I will not see the power and deliverance of my God.

When Esther’s "I can't" message was reported to Mordecai, Esther 4, he sent back this answer: “Do not think that because you are in the king’s house you alone of all the Jews will escape.  For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?”

I’ve always thought of the statement in Ecclesiastes “Moreover, no one knows when their hour will come:” to refer to death and perhaps it may ultimately.  But today I reconsidered it.  We each have pivotal roles within our own time and chance that call us in a day, in an hour to be champions: more than the average human seems capable of.  How can we win that war?  Will we trust, commit and quietly say “This enemy will fall because he has defied the armies of the living God”? Or will we stand back and wait for the best from another champion?