A message brought by multiple witnesses over several days•••
A couple of days ago, it was in a mailing from Aish.com
They were discussing the month of Elul, and preparing for the high holy days, with the daily “wake-up call” of the blowing of the shofar.
“Long before the T-shirt designer, the Almighty recognized that we all need a wakeup call, that we are all at risk of living our Iives on automatic, of going through the motions. Even in less predictable situations like the current pandemic, we tend to try to create a routine (good) and may still end up living life by rote, phoning it in rather than really engaging.
Along comes the shofar (or the T-shirt!) to remind us that this is not the way we want to live, not the ideal format for spiritual growth. We need to snap out of our somnolent state and grab life by the horns. In whatever circumstances we find ourselves, there is still a lot of Iiving to do, a lot of choices to make. But we have to be awake to make them effectively, to make them wisely, to make them well.
It’s much more effort to “stay awake for it”. It’s much easier to just go with the flow and allow life’s winds to just carry us along. But that means we’ve given up all agency for our own lives and decisions. We’ve decided to let life happen to us rather than take responsibility for it. We’ve abandoned our precious gift of free will.
This frequently happens without our really choosing it. We just don’t choose not to let it happen. We just don’t take the reins in our hands. We’re a little too tired, a little too passive, perhaps a little too worn out. It’s understandable. It can happen to all of us; usually it’s a slow erosion.”
The day before it was a new sign in the window of a lady at work (she always has good ones):
Then, today, through God’s word, I’m looking at the word Elul, an ancient month that I can find only once in Scripture, in Nehemiah 6:15, speaking of the completion of the rebuilding of the wall. Two words called out for investigation, the first being that month, Elul (h0435. אֱלוּל ’elûl). I’m using this opportunity to see from my “visual learner” friends and non-visual learner friends, if the Semantic Maps help with understanding the word connections (still using Clark/Hirsch EDBH).
GV p.10 אלל deny [obstruct development]; p.10 אלה master [combine elements for control]; p.5 אול vacillate [lack clarity of purpose]; p.99 יאל decide [initiate action; begin a process]; p.9 איל strengthen
CM אלל encourage/deny growth (A34); אלה develop/decline (A33); אול restrain (A5); אילmove directly/circularly (A11); יאל activate/deactivate (C2)
The second was wall (h2346. חוֹמָה ḥômâ).
GV p.82 חמם glow [project extreme heat]; p.82 חמה protect; p.82 חמא churn [into smooth substance]; p.76 חום darken [blacken]; p.103 יחם warm; (p.154 נחם change attitudes).
CM חמם develop by agitation (A40); חמה and חמא protect/disturb (A38); חום limit (A22); נחם express restrained feeling (D58); (יחם – no cognates listed, but there is one phonetic cognate, p.223 קאם rise – Hosea 10:14, which BDB lists with eight occurrences of קם as a form of קום)
p.223 קאם rise
DV קאם – p.229 קמם stand erect; p.226 קום rise > p.223 קאם rise
CM קמם to perfect (C52); קום establish (C45); נחם express restrained feeling (D58); קאמ no cognates listed, but CM of קאם and יחם might be ‘rising of repressed feelings’
Perhaps the time of the coronavirus is likewise a wake-up call. A call to be aware of and thankful for all with which we have been blessed, and a wake-up call to share with those those whose blessings look different from ours. It clearly is also a time that some repressed feelings tend to rise. May we listen to the expressed feelings of one another. Are we our brother’s keeper? What ‘talents’ we have, we are to share. Matthew 25:14-46
I hope you get the same message.
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