Buddhist tenet: “Clinging to anything leads to suffering.” Yes. But how do you not?

Today is the very rare coincidence of Valentine’s Day and Ash Wednesday. Our chaplain here had a very lovely, simple service for the imposition of ashes for our motley crew from all traditions.  It warmed my heart.

Since it is the first day of Lent, I am fasting. Only eating heart-shaped things.

I’ve been thinking about my heart a lot this week.  From time to time, I meet my cardiologist at the hospital where he shocks my heart back into an appropriate rhythm.  Simple enough.  Just takes most of a day, but I actually like all the attention.

But while all this was going on, at least for the part that the anesthesiologist didn’t have me under her spell, I suddenly had a feeling of tremendous gratitude for my heart. Maybe it was the drugs.  I don’t know. But  I pressed my hand flat on my sternum and actually   told my heart how faithful and hardworking it has always been. I mentioned what a long time we have been working together.

Mostly it has always been a joyful heart.  It has been broken a time or two, but mended stronger than ever. 

We’ve been together for a very long time, and when the time comes for us to go, you will let me know.  Until then, just  keep on keeping on. Thanks.

So — the “ inclement weather plan”is in place here at the old folks’ home this morning. It’s a bit white out there, about 20º.
What’s happening all day is what’s called freezing rain. I was unclear how that is different from the ice storms I remember in Oklahoma where we called it sleet and it built up on wires bringing them down. But information these days is right at out fingertips:

“Freezing rain develops when the raindrops do not have time to freeze before hitting the ground. The water then freezes once it hits the ground, making a layer of ice. Sleet is when frozen precipitation melts as it falls through warm air and then refreezes before it hits the ground.”  Who knew?

In New Years past, I used to come up with a word or two to be my focus for the year. I never wrote it down or told it to anyone. One year it was “be present.” One, it was “let it go.” One year it was “really listen.”

I think the typical plan is to make a list of things you hope to accomplish. Exercise more. Eat more fruits and vegetables. Walk every day. Read more. Lose ten pounds.

Unfortunately, these resolutions are often stated in the negative: Don’t eat fats. Don’t eat sugar. Don’t drink caffeine. Don’t talk about your aches and pains. Don’t gossip. Don’t watch Hallmark movies.

In recent years, my resolutions have taken a turn: Don’t eat anything that’s not delicious. Don’t spend time with people who bore you. Don’t remember things that are better forgotten. Don’t finish a book if it doesn’t engage you in twenty pages. Do not watch cable news.

Whatever you decide, whether to make New Year’s resolutions or not, my advice is to grab a bit of joy anywhere you can find it. Pet a dog. Feed the birds. Read a good book. Grow flowers. Smile at people who don’t smile back. Eat something delicious every day.

2024 has 366 days. Seize each one.

Ancient texts attest that the enmity between the offspring of the two sons of Abraham will always exist. The Pentateuch (Torah) in Genesis 16:12 predicts that Ishmael will always be at odds with the descendants of Abraham’s legitimate son Isaac:

“He (Ishmael) shall be a wild donkey of a man, his hand against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, and he shall dwell over against all his kinsmen.”

A number of religious groups take these writings literally even today! To this day, Middle East groups continue to make this a self-fulfilling prophecy.

For some reason last night, I decided to re-watch a very romanticized 1960 film based on the Leon Uris book Exodus. It isn’t historically accurate in many ways, but it was filmed in the Palestine of that era, and, tragically, in 1960, this film was the first time I ever heard about the holocaust or how modern Israel was carved out of Palestine.

When I was a little girl, the wall map in Sunday school was of Palestine. Jesus was from Palestine, not Israel.  Moses led the Hebrew Children to Palestine, not Israelis to Israel

And when I was a little girl, I loved dressing up and going to Sunday school and church every week. I didn’t give much thought to what I was learning there. It was many years later that I realized most of the stories and lessons and parables, were myths and legends.  Some were oral traditions told over generations to help ancient people understand how the world came into being.

And whatever you may or may not believe about Jesus, you can probably believe that he was a very good teacher, one who made up parables to make a point.

It was many more years after that that I realized that there is much truth in myths and legends. 

There’s a story in Genesis 17:8 that God called Abram out of Ur of the Chaldees to go into the Canaan Valley and claim it for his own. Never mind that it was already inhabited.

A millennium later, when the Hebrew children had been exiled in Egypt for 430 years. God told Moses to lead them “home.”  Never mind that none of those people had ever been to Palestine and they spent 40 years wandering around trying to get there.

According to Exodus 23:20 and following, we read that God promises he will drive out all the people who already live there. 

Is it any wonder that the two peoples who descend from Abraham are at enmity to this day?

I need to be clear here:  Not being a Zionist does not make one anti-Semetic.

A really interesting group of Zionists are American fundamentalist Christians, who seem to have interpreted some verses in Revelation to mean that Jews must return to Israel in order to jump-start the second coming. When I studied Revelation, I learned it was a dream or vision of John the Divine, not to be taken literally, and subject to much varied interpretation.

I find it very hard to understand why, those who believe that the fulfillment of God’s plan is dependent upon the location of a certain group of people.

Nevertheless, this godless enmity in present day Palestine/Israel continues to exist, as it has, since Abram came out of Ur, and became the father of both Isaac and Ishmael.

Abram in Ur: Genesis 17:8