My mental backlog of blog posts is starting to get a little overwhelming. I could go into all the reasons why I have no time to write, but I guess I’ll just let this one fly off the cuff tonight. It’s been a really strange, but wonderful day.
First I will start with a dream I had this morning, which I don’t fully understand, but feel it’s related in some way. It was definitely one of “those” dreams – the kind that stands out from the normal kind, whatever normal is. But some just scream, “Pay attention!’
I was in a small village, out in the main street, and many people were out walking around. News was spreading that someone important was coming, and everyone seemed excited and started lining up on the sidelines like it was going to be a parade. But a man began warning to not go and see, not to look. He said a powerful woman was coming in really fine, splendid clothes, and an entourage, and you will want to look at her, but you must not look. If you glanced at her in the least, you would be under her dominion in some way. My excitement turned to fear, and I began looking for a place to hide from this splendid, yet frightfully powerful woman. I could find nowhere, until I came upon a seating bench that had a lid with storage underneath. I was trying to get in and place the lid over me, but I realized I was too late, so I sat behind it, facing away from the street, hoping to just not be seen. I could hear the crowds going wild and felt powerless to stop what was happening. A woman was standing near me who was not cheering, yet she was not hiding either. A man from the entourage stopped, and I pretended to be asleep (so I could keep my eyes closed and not see anything.) I could hear the woman near me talking to him. She wasn’t afraid, but she was pleading with him. The man was her brother. She kept saying how much she loved him and it seemed she was hoping to be the one with the most influence over him instead. Then I realized that I had based all my fear on the warning of one man, and not even known if he was telling the truth or not. Then I woke up.
Not long after I awoke, my husband received a phone call from someone we met through this blog who does desire to obey God through Torah observance. We never knew if we would meet in person or not, but he just happened to be in town today, so we readily agreed to get together, and had him over for dinner. As I was working in the kitchen preparing the meal, and he and my husband were having a good visit in another room (which I could not hear), I had the strong impression that this dream is about our meeting in some way. I will let the reader decide in discernment.
I let them know when the meal was ready and we all sat down. He was very kind to patiently listen to my expounding (I get really passionate about Jesus, Spirit, and the power of Love). We went around the usual circular discussions that are inevitable whenever the Old and New Covenant ways of thinking collide. There are so many ideas, so many angles, and ways of seeing things. I can’t give someone my eyes, or my heart vision. Nor can I judge their heart. I sensed in him a deep conviction, and desire that was very familiar. I have it too. I used to walk on that path he is on, but found a different way to apply that conviction. In fact the practical application of my belief system continues to change and grow. I believe now more than ever that patience and love is the most important element in relationships of any kind where religious differences are present. Can we make the other party approach the table this way? No. Can we choose to? Yes. I have seen and sadly been party to some painful divisions since leaving the HRM between people who had much more in common than they disagreed on, yet the mountains of offense continued to build over differences in information and perception.
If someone believes with all their heart, they are doing the right thing, then they are. Even if their ways seem crazy to us, their hearts are being true to what they believe. I have a great deal of respect for our new friend who loves God, trusts God, and wants to obey Him. That is a beautiful thing, even if that looks much differently to him than it does to me now. Of course I did my best to explain the new and improved version of righteous fruit (it’s not really new, we just have it in HD with Jesus, with the static taken away). But I can’t force him to see the world my way. No one could have forced me.
After our friend had gone, I saw a status post on facebook: “Do the right thing, regardless of whether bad things may come later or what it might lead to. Do the right thing today.” This friend does not observe Torah as given to Moses, but follows Jesus whole-heartedly.
A short time later I found a similar quote while continuing an internet search I had been on for a few days about my family history. I ran across an article written in 1961 about my grandfather who gave up his 15 year career as a law enforcement officer because he had just been baptized as a Seventh-day Adventist. They would not allow for him to have Saturdays off, so he turned in his badge. Ironically, the article was written by my other grandfather who was the pastor that baptized him. The editors added a relevant quote from Ellen White that read, “It is the very essence of all right faith to do the right thing at the right time.”
I had seen this piece in a scrap book a long time ago. Our family had held it up for many years as the picture of integrity. My husband also for years would not accept a lucrative promotion at work because he refused to work on the Sabbath. We followed our conscience and I don’t regret that. However during those years, we have many regrets about failures to love with our whole heart. Which will hold more weight in the end? I am thankful for the few instances where we were given a chance to redeem those lost opportunities.
Today I also saw a picture of my grandmother’s headstone, wife of the former police officer. I did not attend her funeral, and she is buried far from where I live. It was the first time I’d seen it. Under her name it reads, “She Loved Country Music.” She also observed the Sabbath and the feasts, and out of respect for her, I will only say that it makes me sad this was the love she was known for. I loved her, but she loved very little and it has grieved me to see how the pain of not being loved gets handed down from generation to generation.
So there we have it, a day all about doing the right thing, which is not exactly defined the same way by everyone. HRM followers disagree about this all the time between themselves, as well as Christians. We think having a Law would simplify it and preserve it. It doesn’t.
Often the right thing is determined by fear. There is something that needs to be avoided, controlled, or protected, or an approval to gain and keep. These fears used to drive my view of faith, scripture, and my value system about what is right. I understand this path very well. I go back there a lot in other areas of my life as it seems to be my default operating system installed since birth. It takes conscious effort, or realignment I should say, to His heart and mind, to operate from the other center point.
Perfect Love casts out all fear. I believe this is the example of the fearless woman in my dream. What if the right thing was determined only by what was Love. Perfect love loves no matter what. Even to the death. What is the right thing? A legal system can never answer this question because the explanations take volumes of Talmud, endless Supreme Court cases, or other books and tapes and videos without end. Yet there is always something left unclear and uncovered, or impossible.
Love answers the question with itself and satisfies all.
Romans 13:8 Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loves another has fulfilled the law.
Romans 13:10 Love works no ill to his neighbor: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
Galatians 5:14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
James 2:8 If you fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, you shall love your neighbor as yourself, you do well:
8thDay4Life 
Your writing is always thoughtful and moving.
You are very kind! 😉