Midweek Mannabite – Giving Thanks With A Grateful Heart

Giving thanks

always

for all things unto God.

Thankfulness for His love, protection and provision and for family and friends and all our many blessings.

Gratitude is the inward feeling of kindness received.

Thankfulness is the natural impulse to express that feeling which, when followed, results in Thanksgiving.Thankfulness for every new day;

for shelter and rest at night;

for our food, our health;

for love of family and friends;

for everything His goodness provides and continues to send our way;

and for all the things, such as our freedom, that we often take for granted.

For His love endures forever. Ps. 107:1 This week in USA is the day of thanksgiving to God when tradition remembers the harrowing TWO month, (60 days) journey, across 3000 miles of storm tossed ocean,

in a ship called the Mayflower.

An English ship that famously transported the first English Puritans, known today as the Pilgrims, or the Pilgrim fathers

from Plymouth, England to the New World in 1620. That’s only 397 years ago!!! 

There were reportedly 102 passengers and a crew of 30 but the exact number is unknown.This voyage has become an iconic story in some of the earliest annals of American Historywith its story of death and of survival in the harsh New England winter environment.They established a small community in Plymouth, building homes from local materials.Historically known as Plimouth and Plimoth, it’s a town in Plymouth County, Massachusettes, United States. They departed from a town in England with the same name.It was the following year, a meal was shared by the Wampanoag Native American tribes

and the first settlers/ Pilgrims in Plymouth in the autumn of 1621. It originated as a Harvest Festival, (which undoubtedly has its roots in the 7 Feasts/Festivals/Gods Appointed Times of Israel. For further info., go to www.minimannamoments.com and type in Feasts of Israel in the Search box.)

It has been celebrated nationally on and off since 1789.

Lets not relegate thanksgiving to just one day a year…. or get caught up in the commercial frenzy of the seasonbut remember the Lord’s goodness and provision with grateful hearts, full of thanksgiving, for all He has done and is doing each and every day all through the year.

May His Shalom be with you, whether or not you are celebrating.

Happy

Giving-Thanks 

from all your family and friends at mmm!

Heroes & Heroines

Heroes/heroines are the ones who would never give themselves that title. 

They are the ones who pay the price of laying down their life for others.The ultimate self sacrifice and many do so on a daily basis.

They come in all guises and sizes but their goal is the same and their heart motivation is one to be both admired and emulated.This week we say ‘THANK YOU’, to each and every one, who has given their time and heart, to the service of country and fellow woman, man and child in whatever sphere of life you are in. We will never know or comprehend the true cost of your service.  We can however, turn our hearts towards all of you, both past and present, in gratitude and humility.

The reality of knowing that most of us would not be here; and certainly not living in the freedoms we enjoy, if not for those who fought the battles and won the many past wars,
and those ongoing conflicts all around the world today.

Freedom is NEVER free and we honor all veterans and remember every one in our thoughts and prayers.

November 11th is ‘Remembrance Day’, on many continents and it touches us all, for through the years, every family has lost someone.In Europe, the poppies of the Flanders fields, highlight the overwhelming number of lives lost in the struggles for victory.The ultimate hero OF COURSE, is Jesus, because how ever many people died in the place, or service, of others, the scriptures tell us, only Jesus can save our eternal souls.

Only His blood can redeem the sinner and wash us white as snow, so we can be acceptable and presentable in our Heavenly Fathers presence.  In our comfort and complacency, where we demand our rights; and often display selfish attitudes of our perceived entitlement, to everything we think we should have….Let us never forget to whom we owe our freedoms and our futures, both in this life and the next.While we remember with hope, that one day there will be no more war. For then our King will reign and all tears will be wiped away and in His presence, His true Shalom shall be all we know and experience.We live free because of the brave and because of the courage of those who would protect us with everything they have.

We Remember

and

Thank You.

A Hebrew word for,”Complete peace, contentment, completeness, wholeness, wellbeing and harmony.”

Keeping It All Bottled Up – Part 2

God places all the tears we have wept in a special place…  

In a bottle and a book. (Psalm 56:8)

Every tear that we have shed has been saved up.

The ancients who lived in David’s time, had a practice of putting tears which were shed for someone who had died, into a little bottle called lacrymatories.

(lah-krim-ah-torrie)And when they buried their deceased loved one they would place these lacrymatories or ‘bottles of tears’ inside the tomb. The ancients believed this practice actually helped begin the healing process of losing a loved one.

Archeologists who have unearthed ancient graves, commonly come across these ‘tear bottles’ inside the tomb, indicating it was widely practiced in ancient times.This noun Lachrymatory, pronounced læ-‘kree-mê-tor-ee, (also the root of our word crematory).

It comes down through the ages by way of the Latin word ‘dacrima,’ which shares ties with the Greek term dakry for tear, a distant relation to Old High German zahar also meaning ‘tear’, which fashioned the modern German Zähre for ‘tear’, and Old English tæhher which is nowadays, ‘tear.’

These little bottles were made of glass, pottery, agate, sardonyx, or hard baked clay.

The word here rendered ‘bottle’ means a bottle made of skin, such as was used in the East; but it can also mean a bottle of any kind.

Our tears are precious to the Lord, and He is aware of each tear we shed.

Most of our emotions are connected in some way to our crying liquid tears as well as to the physical cavity of the eye itself helping it to stay moist so we can see.There are 3 types of physical tears produced by our bodies:

First the basal variety, which are made as a form of lubrication and protection for your eyes.

These are constantly secreted in tiny quantities (about one gram over a 24-hour period) and coat our eyes when we blink, yawn or water from a dry climate.

This is what a basal tear looks like under a microscope(Above watering eyes in a micro climate)(Above: yawning from exhaustion tears)

There are biological and physiological components that initiate tears from the tear duct, for the purpose of cleansing and washing the eye.It’s a built in automatic window wash!

Second type we produce are reflex tears.(Above: Tears in response to cutting up onions.)

These are also for protection and are released to help wash away particles in response to irritants, such as wind, dust, smoke, cutting onions or that wayward eyelash. (Greater magnification of above.)

The third type of tears – emotional tears.
These tears contain more protein-based hormones than basal or reflex tears. Our tears, no matter what the form, are a combination of salt water, oils, antibodies, and enzymes.Studies have revealed the scientific basis of tears, and show how weeping and mourning tie into the deepest regions of our brains. The seat of the Soul is also believed to be in the same area of the brain.

Tears are intrinsically connected to emotion. There is a whole process that we go through starting at the time of tearing up, yet each one looks vastly different when examined under a microscope.(Above: tears from laughing until we are crying.)Laugh till we cry,frustration,anger,sadnessand griefloneliness

paindepression love reliefexcitementhappinesssuccessecstatic joy

– Seems like every one of the above list could evoke a tearful reaction…

(Above: tears of ending and beginning.)Not all tears are alike; and each person’s tears are unique to them, just as our DNA, fingerprints and retina scan are.(Above: tears of elation at a liminal moment.)

Tears cover the totality of all of our lifes’ experiences

Does a tear of grief look any different from a tear of joy?

Yes!

Each tear is different: when you cry based on the underlying emotion it produces different chemicals which show up in the tear drop. (Above: tears of change.)

Each tear contains the emotion and the pain and hurt caused by an outside influence often through words or actions of others or a physical trauma to the body.
(Reference: Joseph Strondberg.   Emotional Components of the Tear.)

 Interesting Note: The work of the late Dr. Masaru Emoto, a visionary researcher from Japan, studied the impact of human consciousness on water and its crystalline order.Water that was imprinted by love, gratitude, and appreciation responded by the development of complex beauty,

and

water that was mistreated by negative intentions became disordered and lost its magnificent patterning.

Perhaps something similar occurs in our tears?…It’s known, for instance, that tears contain unique substances depending on their cause.If that is the case for water outside a physical body, how much more could the water that is part of us be affected?

Each human body comprises 50-70% water.

Emotional tears, for instance, contain leucine-enkephalin, a natural painkiller your body releases in response to stress.

 The Black and White Photographs in this post can be found in the public domain on www “Topography of Tears,” (photographer Rose-Lynn Fisher of ‘The microscopic structure of dried tears’.)
Tears are the medium of our most primal language communicating from birth to death, hunger and everything in between.

Tears cover the totality of all of our life’s experiences.(Above: tears of remembrance.)

Each tear will carry a composite of the events of a human life amounting to one drop of the oceans expanse.

Crying is to the emotions within the soul, what soap is to the body, it truly a cleansing thing.

It contains all that is ours as is represented in our DNA, so no wonder He keeps our tears.

It’s a unique record of each of us.

The shortest sentence in the new Testament speaks of Messiah’s tears:

John 11:35

Va•yivch Yeshua.

 Yeshua wept

However when Jesus wept wept in the garden of Gethsemane, the sum total of all the tears shed by humanity on the whole planet, from the Genesis in Eden to the completion of time in the future at the end of the age. They were being borne in His body when He shed His tears for every soul, prior to the shedding of His blood on Calvary’s cross.

Jesus who as the Son of God, bore all the tears for the sins committed by and to mankind.First came the water and then the blood.   Heb. 5:5-9 

The Epistle to the Hebrews tells us of, ‘His strong crying and tears.’ These are tears which we cannot fully understand; but they were tears for the sins of the world, the weight of which in that most mysterious agony He was then bearing.There is no telling just how many tears have been shed throughout history, yet all our tears, the sum total of human existence was put on the cross.

Untold multiplied billions of tears were covered that day by the blood of Jesus. Each tear we shed has a purpose.  Tears are unique to each one of us and they are designed to give us comfort when we our souls are overwhelmed with emotion and conflict.All our perceptions and all our lives experiences are contained within the tears of failure, joy, etc., and every human emotion we have experienced in our lives; good, bad, or indifferent.

It changes when we come to know Jesus as our Saviour and Lord, because He changes us from within.(Above: tears of momentum)

Tears of agony, rejection and defeat are changed into tears of relief, acceptance and hope.(Above: tears of possibility and hope)

There is coming a time for all righteous believers when God will wipe away the tears for ever.  They are poured out upon his altar as a one-time offering to God.

(Its an interesting thought that it in some way it could be connected to the water libation performed during the Fall Appointed Times?!)

In Isaiah 53, when Jesus/Yeshua, bore our griefs and sorrows, every emotion, and every response since the time of Adam and Eve. All our life’s experiences, that is what Jesus took upon Himself. That is when He wept and why that statement is so powerful.

Our emotional hurt often isn’t our own fault, but rather caused by the wrong-doing of others.Weeping actually brings a healing power to those who have been wronged and helps us heal emotionally.

One day for some of us our need for tears will come to an end –

O Lord my God, I cried to you, and you have healed me. Ps 30:3

Adonai Elo•hai shi•va•ati e•le•cha va•tir•pa•eni.

 

He Knows!

A  vast receptacle, brimming over with our weeping.

However… 

One day our need for tears will come to an end –

A new day is dawning.

A new beginning is coming.

A new joy is arising in our hearts, because His Word declares that although

One day God will wipe away every one of those tears and there will be no more crying.   Revelation 21:4

He will replace all our tears of sorrow with pure joy because ALL the OUTWARD causes of TEARS will be absent.Never again will we shed a tear over losing a loved one or a beloved family pet;

or weep by the casket or graveside of a departed family member;

 or shed a tear for a departed loved one or friend, for these are the former things of this life that will pass away.(Tragedy: tears of awe and sorrow)

Never again will we hear tragic news(Above: tears for what could not be fixed.)or see a flag-draped casket of a soldier who lost his life in a war.(Above: tears of Grief.)

Never again will we experience any physical pain, for God is going to ‘wipe away all of our tears’, that were caused by the outward things in this life.
God will wipe away all the INWARD causes of tears.

There will be no more tears of LONELINESS.DEPRESSION.FRUSTRATION.GUILT and SHAME.

No more tears of Remorse(Above: tears of Remorse.)

or DISAPPOINTMENT.(Above: tears of those who yearn for liberation)

(Above: Tears of timeless reunion.)

All there will be in the Presence of the King of Kings, the Creator of the universe isJoy unspeakable and full of glory as the everlasting arms are wrapped around us..

Rejoice, mending broken hearts is His forte.Jesus quoted and said that He came to bind up the broken hearted and only God is able to do such a thing.

And sadness and sighing will flee away leaving only happy smiles!Joy WorshipReliefLoveHappinessAcceptanceSecurity

On a lighter note as the scriptures say, a merry heart doeth good like a medicine; so here is a small dose…

Sometimes holding back the laughter is too muchand the tears fill our eyes

…sometimesor in Lucy’s case both together!

Whatever our situation in life’s journey lets never forget…

God keeps it all bottled up so we don’t have to!When life gives you a 100 reasons to cry..show life that you have 1000 reasons to smile  because SHALOM!