Green. Green is a glorious color. No, I'm not talking about the green you see in that really cute shirt or the green you see painted across the walls of that building over there. I'm talking about the green you see in a new &freshly cut lawn. I'm talking about the green you see surrounding that fire red hibiscus blooming on the side of the winding Hawaiian road. I'm talking about the green that encompasses the whole rainforest. I'm talking about the green that covers the rolling hills of Scotland and Ireland. You know where else that green is? It's across hills in Mexico from Guadalajara to Autlan. You know what else? It's beautiful.
As the summer rain pitter-patters everywhere, the green that is so alive and vivid is taking a big long drink so they can proclaim God's glory and power. Yes, even the trees and flowers are glorifying God. By blooming and going through their life cycle they showcase how powerful God is. How beautiful God is. How creative He is. How glorious God is.
Yes, green really is a glorious color.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Can you hear it?
"A man is born into this world with only a tiny spark of goodness in him. The spark is God, it is the soul; the rest is ugliness and evil, a shell. The spark must be guarded like a treasure, it must be nurtured, it must be fanned into flame. It must learn to seek out other sparks, it must dominate the shell. Anything can be a shell, Reuven. Anything. Indifference, laziness, brutality, and genius. Yes, even a great mind can be a shell and choke the spark.
"Reuven, the Master of the Universe blessed me with a brilliant son. And he cursed me with all the problems of raising him. Ah, what it is to have a brilliant son! Not a smart son, Reuven, but a brilliant son, a Daniel, a boy with a mind like a jewel. Ah, what a curse it is, what an anguish it is to have a Daniel, whose mind is like a pearl, like a sun. Reuven, when my Daniel was four years old, I saw him reading a story from a book. And I was frightened. He did not read the story, he swallowed it, as one swallows food or water. There was no soul in my four-year-old Daniel, there was only his mind. He was a mind in a body without a soul. It was a story in a Yiddish book about a poor Jew and his struggles to get to Eretz Yisroel before he died. Ah, how that man suffered! And my Daniel enjoyed the story, he enjoyed the last terrible page, because when he finished it he realized for the first time what a memory he had. He looked at me proudly and told me back the story from memory, and I cried inside my heart. I went away and cried to the Master of the Universe, 'What have you done to me? A mind like this I need for a son? A heart I need for a son, a soul I need for a son, compassion I want from my son, righteousness, mercy, strength to suffer and carry pain, that I want from my son, not a mind without a soul!' "
"...How will I teach this mind what it is to have a soul? How will I teach this mind to understand pain? How will I teach it to want to take on another person's suffering? How will I do this and not lose my son, my precious son whom I love as I love the Master of the Universe Himself? ...I did not want him to grow up a mind without a soul."
"...In the silence between us, he began to hear the world crying."
"Reuven, the Master of the Universe blessed me with a brilliant son. And he cursed me with all the problems of raising him. Ah, what it is to have a brilliant son! Not a smart son, Reuven, but a brilliant son, a Daniel, a boy with a mind like a jewel. Ah, what a curse it is, what an anguish it is to have a Daniel, whose mind is like a pearl, like a sun. Reuven, when my Daniel was four years old, I saw him reading a story from a book. And I was frightened. He did not read the story, he swallowed it, as one swallows food or water. There was no soul in my four-year-old Daniel, there was only his mind. He was a mind in a body without a soul. It was a story in a Yiddish book about a poor Jew and his struggles to get to Eretz Yisroel before he died. Ah, how that man suffered! And my Daniel enjoyed the story, he enjoyed the last terrible page, because when he finished it he realized for the first time what a memory he had. He looked at me proudly and told me back the story from memory, and I cried inside my heart. I went away and cried to the Master of the Universe, 'What have you done to me? A mind like this I need for a son? A heart I need for a son, a soul I need for a son, compassion I want from my son, righteousness, mercy, strength to suffer and carry pain, that I want from my son, not a mind without a soul!' "
"...How will I teach this mind what it is to have a soul? How will I teach this mind to understand pain? How will I teach it to want to take on another person's suffering? How will I do this and not lose my son, my precious son whom I love as I love the Master of the Universe Himself? ...I did not want him to grow up a mind without a soul."
"...In the silence between us, he began to hear the world crying."
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
A favor, please?
Break out of your box and listen to country music. When you do this, make it Nickel Creek. They are absolutlely great.
Saturday, July 5, 2008
Look! Shiny!
I watched the fireworks in my city on Fourth of July just like everyone and their mothers. And while watching them, I came to a conclusion: Humans are so easily entertained. It really is quite ridiculous. I, honestly, wasn't all that entertained, but everyone around me was. "OOOOH!" and "AHHH!" was heard frequently and I couldn't help but laugh. I mean, most of us watch fireworks every year, and yet, we act like we've never seen them a single time before.
People are great.
But then, there I go raving about how people are so easily entertained when I'm entertained by those people who are so easily entertained(wow, did that make a lot of sense or what?). This obviously means, I'm an easily entertained human too.
God, you created some fantastic people.
People are great.
But then, there I go raving about how people are so easily entertained when I'm entertained by those people who are so easily entertained(wow, did that make a lot of sense or what?). This obviously means, I'm an easily entertained human too.
God, you created some fantastic people.
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