Shabbat Inspiration with Diane

As most of you know, Sid and I live in Maine so we travel 2 ½ hours most every weekend to be part of our Ruach community. We have been doing this now for almost 10 years. My friends and neighbors here in Maine cannot imagine why we go to such great lengths literally since we are also very connected in many ways to our local community as well. When we fell in love with this area in Maine, there were naysayers back in Massachusetts who were predicting the short time before we would no longer be regular attendees at Ruach. Not only during that time did I serve two three year terms as president, but I am, once again, president of Ruach. Our commitment has not wavered. Are we nuts? Stubborn?... Read More →

Today the Nor’Easter is hitting us hard. From my window as I watch the strong north wind blowing the snow literally horizontally with its force, in the same view, I see the cozy fire in our bedroom fireplace, its hearth decorated with my Chanukah stocking woven with a pattern of Stars of David and the cuff “Shalom.” That view – the whipping north wind alongside sweet beauty – is a snapshot of our lives. It’s hard to ignore the troubling headlines. I don’t need to repeat them. This week had an inordinate number of shootings of innocents, perhaps the most heartbreaking headlines of all. On the local front the challenges of health issues, and even a house fire displacing a close... Read More →

No, I don’t even like beer. But the expression is apt to remind us to be grateful for our lives. Wednesday is a long awaited day with no commitments. And the agenda is a lot of housework, cleaning and laundry, sorting and paying bills. It’s not important how the situation got to be this way. It’s not important that this could have been avoided. The point is that’s just the way it is. So I woke up looking at a beautiful day outdoors where I really want to be. Instead, I will be indoors longingly looking out the windows, but at least moving around as I will go from room to room with my vacuum cleaner. What to do to nip this resentment in the bud? First, I looked at... Read More →

At this very moment a terrifyingly loud toddler is digging his or her shoes into the back of my seat on my flight from Los Angeles to Denver while the wee one alternates between ear piercing shrieking and crying. I’m a grandma. I love little ones. I can even relate to the poor parents crammed into just two seats with what feels like a pretty big not quite two year old on their laps. Nowhere to move to and the flight still has hours to go. . . I was actually hoping to be seated by the 9 month old pug puppy owner. We had exchanged pleasantries in the waiting area as I shared with her my love of pugs and that at one point I had owned three at once! Even that adorable teeny ball of fur had... Read More →

I was recently chatting with a friend who runs a house cleaning service. As she was describing her hectic schedule and tiring days, she stated that hers is a thankless job. I reacted, “No, it’s not! When a person comes home to a clean home, it’s such a great feeling.” She could understand that but from her perspective, she was just feeling the isolation of working alone and not being there to see the appreciation, if it is true people even notice. Her comments gave me pause. So many “jobs” we do could be considered “thankless”. Each day the tasks are numerous just for daily living, and when we live in community or even in our family settings, so many “jobs” are done with little time or... Read More →

Sid and I had the opportunity this week to attend a two day event sponsored by Colby College’s Center for Small Town Jewish Life, an initiative to bring Jews in Maine together. Since the whole state only has just over a million people in total population, you can imagine how small is the number of Jewish people. That having been said, over 200 Jews gathered for a spectacular event including entertainment by Nefesh Mountain – you must check them out on YouTube! And yes, the female lead singer and I immediately became as she stated, soul sisters. WOW! What an amazing experience! The attendees ranged from farmers to physicians, from secular to Modern Orthodox, coming from the most southern... Read More →

Last week we gained deeper insight into how our Jewish brothers and sisters often perceive Yeshua, an exercise to better understand how our discussions about Him are heard. It is helpful to be reminded when talking to Jewish people that they are still wounded by history and marginalization. It literally took a miraculous encounter for me to be able to go emotionally, viscerally from a place of fear due to experiences of anti-Semitism, to emotionally, viscerally knowing the truth that Yeshua is the Messiah. That barrier of fear must be broken before we can hear what is being said. Often when I’m speaking to the gatekeepers in the mainstream Jewish community, I sense the reason for their... Read More →

As most of you know, my passion is to interface with my Jewish brothers and sisters and educate them as to the truth of Yeshua. I may have a somewhat different bent on this than do others since I feel my role is to do just that – educate – rather than necessarily succeed in winning the listener over to my way of thinking, at least for that moment. I am confident that our Abba will do the rest as is appropriate for each person. I personally feel each individual’s walk with HaShem is unique to him or her, that our Abba meets us where we are, speaks to us in the ways we can hear Him. My very small role in the process is to lay the foundation, shatter stereotypes, explain my new perspective... Read More →

Last week I shared with you a way to ameliorate stress by not going down the bunny trail of darkness, evaluating all the “what ifs” that could happen over which we have no control. This week, however, our Abba has provided me with a new twist on another way to look at that rabbit hole. I am involved in a very complicated transaction that has been going on for over a year. It involves multiple parties in a buy/sell situation and I am just one person on a team for one of the parties. The whole situation has felt as a giant jigsaw puzzle where the moving of one piece can negatively, or perhaps positively, affect the outcome. Although the current configuration of the puzzle can work, it has... Read More →

Most of you know I’m a glass more than half full person and Sid often sees the lesser part. We are a great combination since with his engineering background he often grounds my rainbow in the sky ideas. Together we do pretty good planning most of the time, knowing the best planning comes from listening to our Abba. During our most recent adventures, and they are, we had encountered some unanticipated engine problems in our Pugabego, a/k/a, our Winnebago RV named after our pugs. We had given it a hard run this summer so it decided to break down as we were driving to the Adirondacks to go tent camping via Beacon, NY, in order to squeeze in seeing our grandbabies in a fairy play. Ye... Read More →

Aren’t the fall colors amazing? I just recently learned that the orange and yellow colors of our fall foliage are the result of carotenoids which are in the leaf throughout the growing season. The reason the leaf looks green until fall, however, is that chlorophyll is abundant during the growing season when the plant replenishes the chlorophyll. After the growing season in the fall, chlorophyll decreases, thus allowing the yellows and greens to color the leaves rather than the chlorophyll. Carotenoids are present in leaves throughout the year; however, their orange-yellow colors are usually masked by green chlorophyll. As autumn approaches, certain influences both inside and... Read More →

I remember vividly a conversation I had with my father over 30 years ago. He was feeling depressed and at a crossroads in his life. During the several months before our conversation, an inordinate number of his close acquaintances were literally dying unnaturally early deaths. Two had died of heart attacks, one was in a fatal car crash, one had just succumbed to cancer. There were actually a couple others. As my dad and I processed these losses, I suggested that perhaps God was trying to get his attention to think about the decisions he was making in his own life, some of which were not so exemplary. It was an odd thought, I admit. Their deaths had nothing to do with dad, and yet,... Read More →

This past week was a bit of a nail biter for us. Sid and I have a small place in Florida and it was for several days in the “Cone of Uncertainty” regarding Hurricane Dorian. As we ultimately escaped its wrath, it was only a bittersweet sigh of relief as I heard more of the devastation of the Bahamas’ Great Abaco Island. The feeling is not unlike that at Passover as we remember our exodus from Egypt, dipping our pinky in the cup of wine for each of the plagues, removing some of the joy as we remember the sadness of the Egyptians. When I was a little girl sitting in the back seat of the car during the nightly rides, entertainment in the ‘50s, I would watch my mother look at our... Read More →

As most of you know, often the subject matter of these Shabbat encouragements comes while I take my morning jog. I find that I can be on the same path I’ve taken so many times before, and yet, as I commune with my Abba, He will let me see something in a new way, with new eyes, hear the song I’ve heard repeatedly speak to me differently, inspire me with His presence. It’s been a bit of a rough week since I injured my knee while jogging a few days ago. Not only have I been struggling with pain and poor sleep as a result, I also have not been able to run, sorely (literally!) missing my special time with HaShem. As I was saddened thinking I have nothing to share with you this week, I soon... Read More →

This past weekend I was blessed to have my sister and her family up to our home in Maine to celebrate my nephew’s birthday. It was such a wonderful time together with great weather, great food, great times just to hang and relax. One morning we broke into groups, some of us jogging (😊), some dog walking, some just walking, and all met eventually at a beautiful lookout near our home. I was the last to arrive and there they all were in my view – a whole group of my loved ones, both the two legged and four legged varieties. As I approached I was struck with the surroundings which were beautiful as well – the blue sky, calm ocean, sail boat in the background, sandy beach with waves lapping... Read More →

It is such a blessing to be able to volunteer my time at Camp Or L’Dor. Over the years the younger leaders have taken on some of the many roles I have previously held and now, as Sid says, we are the Bobbe and Zayde, Grandma and Grandpa, of the camp. That is only partly true, since in addition to helping to brainstorm the inevitable questions that arise, I also truly love interfacing with members of the staff of our Jewish host camp. My experience has been that if we are blessed to be able to be at the same location for more than one summer, the conversations develop more naturally and are deeper as relationships are formed with our host camp leaders. Yet this year offered up a special... Read More →

How do I not think about the mass shootings in Texas and Ohio? How do I integrate the beauty I am experiencing this week at Camp Or L’Dor with the heartbreaking headlines? Last week I shared with you how in an every day conversation my passion for this amazing endeavor welled up and poured out. I was reminded of all the mundane that saps our energies and pulls us away from Him and what we are here to do. One of my highly musically talented readers responded which reminded me of yet another aspect of this thought. In Kaballah, Jewish mysticism, when the divine urn was shattered in the beginning, all creation received a spark of divinity. Within each of us is a force that is not of us,... Read More →

Sid and I have been very busy this summer. It has been a combination of many wonderful family events as well as travel for conferences and some work. We have been Airbnbing our home quite a bit for the times we are away which adds an additional layer of work and lack of order as we live in our RV or at my sister’s house when not traveling. Today is a brief respite – sorting mail, paying bills, doing laundry, and a bit of relaxing – before we prepare for Airbnbers to live at our place while Sid and I leave for Camp Or L’Dor in a couple days. I had also scheduled a phone meeting this morning with the church representative with whom we are in talks about their buying Good Shepherd’s... Read More →

On my morning jog a young, healthy, green leaf fell unexpectedly in front of me crossing my path. It is only July and all the leaves are still lush and green. It struck me as odd that this single leaf, on a calm day, would be felled to die not in the usual cycle of autumn. Its descent reminded me that it will die, and although untimely, its death will over time serve to nourish the living greenery that will thrive from its decomposition. Through its death will spring new life. Such is the way of nature. So too, Yeshua was felled in his youth, suffered an untimely death, and came back restored, a new divine life that nourishes this created world beyond human understanding. Just as did... Read More →

Last week I shared with you my recent experience at an Orthodox Jewish wedding of a non observant Jewish couple. I was struck by the chesed, kindness, of the officiating rabbis who were able to balance their sensibilities for those present without compromising their core values and religious beliefs. I received so many wonderful comments from my readers who could now see Messiah’s presence in this situation, or who have also seen Him in similar situations. I did not receive any negative comments from those who may have found my observations challenging, especially as applied to mainstream Jews who do not believe in Yeshua. I was thinking some of you may have had this very logical... Read More →

This week I attended a very unusual wedding. It was for one of my dear friends who is technically a Conservative Jew but who has raised her children within the Orthodox Jewish community regarding schooling. As a result the wedding was conducted by an Orthodox Jewish rabbi as well as attended by two additional Orthodox Jewish rabbis and their spouses who are close family friends of the bride. Not that unusual, right? The missing fact is that my friend, her husband, and children are not observant Jews at all. There is a glimmer of cultural Jewish observance but other than that, no regular observance of the traditions or halacha of our faith. Over the years she and I have had countless... Read More →

At my last Dance Kickboxing class for the summer one of my adult students shared with me a very disturbing piece of information about one of our neighbors. It related to an incident involving this neighbor that occurred 40 years ago that to this day she cannot talk about without crying. As I listened to her still fresh pain, I tried to juxtapose this description with my previously held opinion about this neighbor and found an internal struggle within myself to reconcile the two very different impressions of this man. I enjoy listening to others and feel blessed that others feel comfortable sharing their life journeys with me. Although often these are times of joy, there are many times... Read More →

Last week I had a debilitating headache. This has never happened to me before and was quite disturbing. The timing also lined up with some unusual stress, but also, with work I was to do to advance His Kingdom. I literally could not talk, or write, the pain was so bad. So needless to say, not much was accomplished. Also, I had plans coming up to go to Ruach, to a joint karate school graduation sponsored by my brother and sister representing a beautiful reconciliation for me, and then to see all my grandchildren together in one place just 3 hours away (one group lives in Denver). So much nachas (joy) coming up, and yet, I couldn’t get out of bed. As the weekend approached, I couldn’t... Read More →

Today I took my morning jog not at my usual place on the nearby beach, but rather, near my sister’s home in Westford, MA. She lives by a lake near a beautiful pine tree woods with homes nestled back from the road. As I was communing with my Abba to Messianic Jewish music per usual, one of the local residents walked toward me. I gave him a welcoming hello as I removed my headphones. His rather unwelcoming remarks were, “Is there a reason you’re trespassing on my driveway?” Not only did this comment take me by surprise but I looked all around me and I was clearly on the road and not in his driveway. Then he pointed to a sign with diagrams on it indicating that, in fact, he owned that part... Read More →

As you know, my Shabbat encouragement this week was to encourage each of us to expand our relationships with our Jewish friends and work together to bring more love into this world, starting first by breaking down the walls between Jews and Messianic Jews. As part of that idea I had resolved to contact the local synagogue with whom we had previously partnered to support Project Bread’s Walk for Hunger. So I woke up this morning and checked my emails. In queue was an invitation by the local synagogue near our home in Maine to join them this Sunday for a walk to support Habitat for Humanity. That email had arrived an hour after I sent out this week’s Shabbat encouragement. Sid and I have... Read More →