Dissect this! Truth and Lies 101

A good lie contains just enough truth to make it believable however just shy enough to lead people down a completely different path. Like a great big ball of wax that if only held to the heat of truth we'd see how much of it just won't hold up to the facts.

This stuff really bugs me...maybe because I am naturally a little cynical to begin with and no matter whether it's true or false it may take a little longer for me to swallow....something that can hinder me in being quick to follow truth but pays off in holding out to test the things that look tasty but are just worm infested(a trait that comes in handy if you spend any time gardening too!)

Beware of wolves in sheep's clothing the Master says...dang those nasty wolves...you know they had to kill the sheep first to wear it's clothes don't you?! That's what lies do, the truth is dead to those that hear it because it's filled with lies! BAM!


*Well I don't know about you but I am against the malicious dissection of sheep especially when it inevitably leads to the harm of other sheep.

Test what you heard and see peeps! Kill the wolf if you have the chance or more than likely it will just go find another sheep to open up and hide in.

Shabbat Shalom

Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.

Matthew 7:15 

*in a figurative sense where the sheep represents truth and or a member of the faith! And while I don't count the killing of sheep for meat production to be "malicious dissection" there are those that would consider it so...and so to make sure that I am not aligned with those of that particular view I have clarified said point!

What do Pesach, socks, and Mashiach have in common?...

Yes I'll admit it has been pretty dead on this sliver of the internet lately but getting ready for a wedding and Pesach in the same month demands some serious prioritization....that and kissing your regular sleep patterns goodbye.

All in all we survived the chaos and actually managed to pull off a pretty good wedding I think. My neat freakness is settling down a little more now that we have *most* of the boxes organized again and put away. It was touch and go last Monday as we began to wade through the worst of the post wedding array that got hastily shoved into this or that box in the frenzy to clear out of the hall at a semi decent hour, get the last bit of Pesach cleaning done, and table laid. Baruch HaShem I am not sure how we managed it but we we're sitting down at evening with time to spare!

As crazy as Pesach is at times though I think it's one of my favourite times of the year. Maybe becasue all the cleaning and preparations build the expectation more or maybe because my simplicity is naturally attracted to the practical elements of the cleaning and the getting rid of the chametz. Or maybe just because I genuinely like cleaning....though I try not to be too obsessive ;).

I don't know if your mum made you do this or not but we were always made to clean our drawers on a regular basis growing up. It always amazed me how much room I had after I was done neatly folding and organizing them....it really was great!...for all of about a week until you lazily fell back into the old way of shoving things in, pushing them down and quickly pushing the drawer closed like you were trying to keep the jack in the box that lived in there from popping out at an inopportune time.

It just seems to be that over time things can pile up or get put in the wrong place. We even begin to collect things we shouldn't or hide things that we ought not to be holding on to. Pesach is the chance to get that fresh start. Reorganizing and prioritizing...tossing those socks that don't have a match, mending the things that need repaired and getting rid of the things that for *whatever* reason crept in over the year. Maybe what I believe on this or that is valid but I've allowed it to dominate my focus too much and draw me away from the weighty matters. Maybe I am holding on to ideas that have no basis and need to be thrown out. Maybe I need to evaluate the company I keep, the way I spend my time etc.

Everything needs a little freshening up now and then whether it be a good cleaning or the odd calibration we need the times to reorient ourselves on the narrow way and make sure that we keep Messiah at the centre of that walk. Remembering our redemption, the cost, and the fact that the most Holy One of Israel cares so much about having a personal relationship with us that He would humble Himself to such a state! The require-er of the penalty took the penalty Himself. Whoa if that is not mind bending I am not sure what is!...Just a little cleaning tip - if you only put one thing back in the drawer make sure it's that one right there!

Chag sameach and lila tov

Sorrow and Joy Collide

© K Taylor March 28^th 2013

What do you do when sorrow and joy collide

how can you reconcile both pain and delight inside

well here is the problem the issue that'll arise

you see hurt and pain is a whole lot stronger

and it will dominate the battle every time

it cuts you down  - leaves you in the heap

and no matter how hard you try

it will always haunt your sleep

The truth is I am not sure how anyone survives

if they don't have the Father to reach down and dry their eyes

cause he knows our pain and he knows it hurts

it's happened to him countless times

so before we scream the hows and whys

maybe we should look to him who bled and hang

dayenu - it would have been enough

yet Father still comfort us - for it's You we trust

Purim Is Coming!!

I foresee the next couple weeks being super busy so I decided to reduce, reuse, and recycle this Purim post from last year! It's getting about time to start making these tasty treats again so here is my tried and true trick to delish hamantaschen! Along with that a link to some tips for your mishloach manot HERE and crafty tags to accompany said parcels HERE.

So with out further ado, here is the oldie :)

Shalom!

So after getting confused and frustrated with the myriads of different Hamantaschen recipes out there, and making a few dud recipes, I decided to do something simple and just use plain pastry dough and jam for the filling.

  Yummy, simple and quick!

 

Pastry Recipe

3/4 cups of either shortening or butter (chill for best results)

2 cups of sifted flour

3/4 tsp of salt
4-5 Tbsp of ice cold water

Use a knife or pastry cutter to blend dough until you can form it into a ball. 

use a cup to cut out your rounds

If the pastry is still cool then cut it in half, put one half in the fridge to keep cool until later. Roll the half you keep out to about 1/8in thick and use a cup to cut out round roughly 2.5in across. 

fold #1

Place 1/2 Tbsp of your choice of fruit jam or other filling in the middle of the rounds and fold in a triangle shape.

As you're folding, dab little water on the inside of each corner to seal the edges so your filling doesn't go south on you.  

fold #2

  to best insure that the filling stays in your pastry is to have them folded in a "pin wheel" format like the picture below. Each side should have one corner under and one over.

fold #3

Bake in the oven at 350 until filling is bubbly and pastry is golden brown roughly 20min. You can also brush pastries with a glaze of cream, water, or egg before baking if you wish. I used milk and sprinkled with a little sugar.

Have fun!

And they call me the Seeker...

Well I was kinda having one of those nights where sleep was a little fitful. I did some painting the previous day(yeah renovated the bathroom how many years ago and only now getting the second coat of paint on the door?!) and like all things ended up doing more then I had originally intended. I thought I had escaped without any physical consequences but unfortunately, that, on top of making 9 loaves of challah yesterday kinda tipped the scales. Oh well, no pain no gain right?

I just keep trying to say Baruch HaShem! And make a conscience effort to, as Paul says, "be content in ever circumstance" and focus on the positive. It's actually quite amazing when you start to make the effort to count blessings because you start naming things that you previously could have complained about. For example being unemployed right now means I don't have to go to work on zero sleep! I get to spend time with my dad during the day, I have been able to study scripture more and write more music. Those are merely trite examples however when compared to the blessings of a roof over my head, family I can love/honour/respect, food on my plate, being delivered "out of the house of bondage" and having life in the name of Yeshua HaMashiach.*

So likewise tonight I can actually be very thankful that I was too sore to sleep, because it allowed me the opportunity to get into the scripture. Specifically the gospel portion for this week Mattiyahu 6:1-8:1.

Okay hold on for a minute while we take a detour...I have always struggled with a slight inferiority complex in regards to my position in life when compared to others, especially those younger than me who seem to "have it all together" as far as their career and plan for life. To be totally frank: I don't exactly fit into world's definition for "success"...or even "on the road to", in actuality, probably quite the opposite; no college/university education, no job at the moment, 24 and still living at home, no particular "important" or impressive skills. I have had and still have a tendency to guilt myself for who, what and where I am when compared to others around me.

So back to Mattiyahu....verses 6:24-32 were very encouraging as there always are when facing "uncertainties" in life, but when I got to verse 33 it cut through, so to speak.

"But seek ye first the kingdom of G-d and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you..."

In one tiny little verse it summed up the reason I am not the world's poster girl for "success". When you follow HaShem and walk a Torah centred walk sometimes it requires looking a little foolish to the world, looking "unsuccessful", or "second class" but nevertheless our first priority, and thereby what filters all the others, has to be the pursuit of G-d's Kingdom and His righteousness! Notice it says "His righteousness", not mine, not yours, not some religious system's...."His"- which is the Torah

I am always immensely grateful when HaShem debunks my self doubts and the societal pressures...Now I would be totally wrong to use it as an excuse to, shall we say, "rest on my laurels"...but for one who is always afraid of becoming "too comfortable" it just acts as a simple affirmation that at least for now I am where I need to be.

Well I was going to post some thoughts I had on the 10 words and Yeshua's prayer in Mattiyahu 6 but it's already after 7am now so maybe later.

One day at a time ya'll, one day at a time!
Shalom


* this is not an exhaustive list

Shining Silver

I don't know about you but there is something I just love about taking something that is otherwise worthless and turning into something special or usin' a little elbow grease on something dirty, then be able to stand back and admire the difference. So you'll understand my happiness when I tell you I finally got a bottle of silver polish and was, at long last, able to clean our silver properly, I never knew those old plates could shine so bright!

As I was cleaning I was thinking(cause you know polishing is kind of a quiet "thinking" kind of job), watching the black tarnish build up on my rag, slowly revealing the hidden treasure that had been trapped beneath...and had the thought "you know, in G-d's eyes I am just like this piece of silver" I am tarnished and dirty - yes! But by G-d's great goodness have been claimed as His treasured possession. And through His work and instruction am being purged and sanctified.

In my humanness I can't see past the tarnish a lot of the time. I can't see the value that lies beneath all the mess. It seems like everyday I am faced with another part of me that I just can't stand. I think "Why!? Why can't I get this right?", cleaning that silver served as a gentle reminder that sanctification takes time, it's slow(but steady!) you can't rush it, after all, would you take a chisel to a priceless piece or ornately carved silver to remove the dirt and tarnish? No, I don't think so, it's a process - layer by layer.

Baruch HaShem! When I fail He is not condemning me so I should just be satisfied to admit it was stupid, move on and learn from the mess up, confident that my heavenly Father is busy at work making this rusty, dirty, tarnished, and otherwise questionable material into a vessel fit for noble use...I pray I will also remember to extend this grace to others as the Father does His work in them as well...reminding myself to look beyond the tarnish to see the gleaming treasure beneath just as He does.


Lila tov and Shabbat Shalom

Something outa Nothing

Well it's been a little while since I've done too much updating to the ol blog eh...and since I don't really feel like yammering on about anything particular I just thought I would put up a few photos I caught whist on my regular walking route today. And instead yammer about the rather normal aspects of the day.

I woke up to a beautiful fresh pile of snow this morning

 

 "Pinned" some more wedding ideas on Pintrest (or "pin-interest" as I keep saying :P) for Danielle to look at. 

Made the first set of tracks down the freshly snow laden lane way (*woot woot* yes it does actually make me happy inside :) I would have driven faster...but mum was sitting beside me *wink* :oD

Cased a church for a possible wedding location...no one was around so we just kinda creepily drove around the building. 

Went to a couple stores, visited a friend in the hospital, came home...

Went for a walk - taking pictures

Looked for old stuff around the farm and found a whole bunch of old milk cans!

Did laundry...oh I forgot about that...I guess I need to hang that up hee hee.

 Brainstorming...........uh you know when the weather man predicts a sweet awesome thunder storm and you are like super pumped for it.........and it doesn't even rain....yeah that was my brainstorm :P

Looked at a few old photos

 Yep it was a pretty chill day

Peace out folks!