New Year: Sacrifices and Blessings

It’s a new year. Last year, we made a big deal about good riddance to 2020. This year, I got the sense that most people held back on their hopeful proclamations. Although 2021 wasn’t as harsh as 2020, it still didn’t offer the relief many hoped for.

I get the desire to mark the beginning of a new year as a season of hope, but I’ve always felt that was silly. Dates have little to do with my day-to-day life. I mark the new year just because it falls so soon after Christmas.

If I look at things based on the calendar year, I can say 2020 and 2021 offered a lot of blessings for me. Yes, the world dealt with, and continues to deal with, Covid. I know many who have suffered great losses during this time. Personally, things have not gone well with my daughter whose children I’m raising. My husband began to deal with health issues that put a monkey wrench in some of our Christmas plans. I could dwell on the negative aspects of those two years without anyone questioning me.

Yet, it wasn’t all horrible. Wonderful things did happen. I published three books over those two years and won Best Fantasy Novel for the first one. I attended conferences as an invited guest instead of an attendee. I made lots of new friends. My daughter became engaged in a very theatrical way that suits her personality. The move from in-person corporate training workshops to virtual ones healed my feet of the agonizing pain of plantar fasciitis.

So, I could dwell on the negative, but I have plenty of positives to focus on. I’d rather view the passage of time in that light instead.

In the Bible, God gave the Israelites a calendar to go by. It contained festivals and rites and times of sacrifice. He used these events to remind them of what God did and continued to do for them.

In Exodus 23: 14-19, God instructs the Israelites about three festivals:  The Festival of Unleavened Bread, the Festival of Harvest, and the Festival of Ingathering.

“Three times a year you are to celebrate a festival to me. “Celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread; for seven days eat bread made without yeast, as I commanded you. Do this at the appointed time in the month of Aviv, for in that month you came out of Egypt. “No one is to appear before me empty-handed.  Celebrate the Festival of Harvest with the first fruits of the crops you sow in your field. Celebrate the Festival of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather in your crops from the field. Three times a year all the men are to appear before the Sovereign Lord. Do not offer the blood of a sacrifice to me along with anything containing yeast. The fat of my festival offerings must not be kept until morning. 

These festivals reminded them of the blessings God provided. Two of them are to celebrate, not to look back. The Festival of Unleavened Bread does look back, but it looks back toward a joyful time of release from bondage.

God repeats this instruction in Exodus 34, almost to the word. We could spend a lot of time on why it’s repeated, but I’ll only note that Exodus 23 occurs before the golden calf and Exodus 24 after.

In Leviticus, God gives instruction to Moses on sacrificial offering. The directions provide clear, albeit difficult, steps to follow. In some way, I can see the Israelites taking comfort in these rituals. In Leviticus 16, he gives specific directions about the Day of Atonement, ending the direction with this summary:

“This is to be a lasting ordinance for you: On the tenth day of the seventh month you must deny yourselves and not do any work-whether native-born or a foreigner residing among you- because on this day atonement will be made for you, to cleanse you. Then, before the Lord, you will be clean from all your sins. Leviticus 16:29-30

Several chapters later in Leviticus, God provides instruction of feasts, including the Passover.

Why am I noting this? God set up a calendar for His people. He marked it with special events and processes that reminded them of their salvation in God. These events reminded them of His blessings and of their shortcomings, but this calendar gave them hope. It gave them a way to move forward beyond sin.

It may feel like we don’t have the same experience in today’s world. We don’t offer sacrifices in the way the Israelites were commanded to do. Jesus’ sacrifice changed how we look at forgiveness of sin. Even though we don’t hold these feasts, every Sunday Christians come together to worship Him and remember the ultimate sacrifice through the Lord’s Supper. Maybe celebrating a new year as a season for looking forward with hope is not far from what God planned for us, after all.

So, I’m rethinking my attitude of not looking at January 1 as a day to mark with anticipation for what’s to come. This year, I’m thankful for blessings in the past and hoping for blessings in the coming year. How about you?

Leaving Worry Behind

In my last post, I was struggling to decide how to proceed with our grandchildren’s education this school year. I found myself leaning one way but worrying about the repercussions of each option. There is no easy answer to this situation. Everyone knows that at this point.

This morning, I was listening to the Sermon on the Mount, and the following verse jumped out at me:

 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Matthew 6:34

We made our decision two weeks ago. We had no choice. The deadline was upon us. We’re doing virtual for now. My grandson will participate in a micro-school with two other children. They will have someone available to monitor their progress and help if needed. While he does that, I can work without constantly stopping to make sure he’s staying focused and on track. This option, also, meets his social needs. My granddaughter is self-motivated, so she’ll attend virtually from home.

Since making this decision, I’ve not worried as much…until this week. Why? My granddaughter has been in contact with her friends, and she misses them. Most of her friends opted for the hybrid in-person/e-learning option. I’m not concerned about the educational impact. The virtual option guarantees teacher access throughout the school day. The e-learning part of the other option does not. I’m concerned about her friendships. She’s been very lonely this summer. I began to worry if her friendships will survive.

Then my Bible app read Matthew 6:34. These words spoken by Jesus over 2000 years ago comforted me. Worry will not change things. We made the best decision we could. No one knows the future. I know for some of you, not worrying is a tough undertaking. I don’t tend to worry a lot, but there are times when my internal thoughts chip away at my soul. This verse, and the ones preceding it, came for me at the right time.

As Jesus says, each day has enough trouble of its own.

I hope you are well and safe and not worrying.

 

 

As a side note, I uploaded a video of me reading one of my short stories about domestic violence on YouTube a few weeks ago. It’s not Christian-themed, so if you decide to listen to it, keep that in mind.  But since I’ve written about domestic violence many times on this blog, I thought I’d share the story. You can find it here.

Difficult Decisions and Good News

Spin the wheel for an answer!

Sometimes I don’t want to write these posts. Mainly because it’s hard to figure out what to share and what not to share.

We’re coping with the whole quarantine thing. I’m working with the kids at home, but there’s nothing that can be done about that. We manage. Some days it’s easier. My grandson tends to wander into my office more. He’s discovered a spin-the-wheel toy a former trainee gave me years ago. It’s called The Executive Decision Maker. He loves to spin it and ask it if he should do whatever I’ve just told him to do.

Yesterday, my granddaughter had an appointment with the medical office where she and I were exposed in March. We weren’t told who on the staff exposed us, but I asked how that person had fared. He died. His entire family got Covid-19, and his father died, too. God was watching over us that day since she and I tested negative for the virus.

Speaking of exposure, the schools have asked parents to decide if their children will do virtual school this fall. If you want them in the virtual program, you have to sign them up now. They don’t know whether the schools will open for direct instruction or e-learning or a mix. It’s crazy. My granddaughter told me yesterday she wants to do virtual school. I worry that she’ll miss out on her friends (assuming it’s safe to return to school in August) and whether she’ll be able to take the courses she signed up for. The district’s FAQ page indicates that might happen with a few classes, such as related arts. This year, she’s signed up for Honors Art. This was a huge deal to be accepted, and I wonder whether virtual school means telling that dream good-bye.

Her brother fared ok with e-learning last year, but it was a chore to keep him on track. I’m unclear about what to do because he truly needs social interaction with a teacher and classmates. If our county offered it as a 9-week option like some places, I might be tempted to start that way. But our district says it’s a year-long commitment, but you might can switch at the end of the first semester. Might. Can. Switch.

Before you go crazy on me because you believe the virus is overblown or you believe schools should not re-open, please just don’t. We’ve been careful. We were exposed once. I’m trying to look at the whole picture and decide what makes the best sense for these two grands in our care. Isn’t that what we all are doing?

Maybe I should spin the wheel and see what it says. But I think prayer might be a better option.

In other news, there are good things happening in my life. I signed a book deal with a publisher and the first book of my trilogy should come out in December just in time for Christmas. I’ll share more as the time approaches, but you can watch my social media announcement here.

Our daughter appears to be trying to do things the right way. It’s too soon to know if she’ll succeed this time. That sounds pessimistic, I know, especially for a Christian who believes in God’s ability to transform us. I’m too aware of her history and how difficult this can be for an addict. If she does stay on track, I pray she doesn’t move too soon to regain custody. And if she does, how will my decision about school impact the grandchildren?

There are no easy answers…only prayer.