Dayenu

I am a strong believer in our Abba’s sprinkling clues throughout our lives that lead us to the path He wants for us. The challenge is that we more often than not do not notice them. Part of our life’s journey is to become more aware of these moments, for the more that...
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A Season of Redemption

I love when Passover and Easter line up. Although I know it is not exact, this year’s first night seder falls a couple days before Easter just as Yeshua’s last supper and his resurrection were within days of each other, the holy timing helping to bring us into the...
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Encouragement

We all know how hard it is to find the inner peace we need to connect to HaShem when our lives are too busy. We also know that it’s a catch-22: how do we find inner peace without Him? Our Abba is fully aware of the challenges we must overcome, so He gives us help to remember that...
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Lady Gaga

For the past several weeks I have not been able to write a Shabbat encouragement. I have always felt that I would not put a weekly expectation on myself about these writings, but rather, “when the Spirit moved me”, I would then have something to share with you. Since returning...
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Chess, anyone?

Recently, my sister was sharing with me the story of a reconciliation that had unfolded over a number of years, each choice bringing the players in the drama closer to a place of love. A “synchronicity” had just surfaced, bringing people together now from years ago who didn’t...
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God’s Miracles are real!

Generally, unless it is an emergency, I try to stay off of my phone on Erev Shabbat and Shabbat. Being in Florida, however, I have tended to leave my phone on just in case. So this morning, Shabbat morning, I received an email regarding Ruach’s building and work I am doing...
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Better late than never – Part 2

Last week I shared with you that I am in Florida reconnecting, or more appropriately, connecting with family members I didn’t know until recently. The group is increasing and each week my cousins and I are learning more and more about our families. A true blessing. It feels like...
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Better late than never. . .

I have not sent Shabbat encouragements for the past couple weeks. My special time with HaShem, the times when these weekly thoughts often arise, has been disrupted due to the sudden death of my aunt and our unanticipated early trip to Florida to attend to her affairs. I have not...
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We can make beautiful music together

As is the case with most children in our neck of the woods, my parents gave me music lessons. I studied piano and clarinet from a young age and continued through college enjoying the richness music adds to our lives. My understanding of football and basketball are largely due to...
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Kindness

I must have been almost the last person to hear of the controversy this week about Gillette’s “We Believe: The Best Men Can Be” ad. We don’t watch much TV and I am not on social media, so I only heard of the issue when chatting with my sister. If you live under a rock such as...
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Can you hear Me?

I was chatting recently with a friend who I admire for her ability to share how she hears from God. Sometimes it’s just sensing His intentions, sometimes it’s hearing Him in the way we as humans can. Personally, I am uncomfortable saying I hear from God. Truthfully, when I get...
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Secrets

Cardio exercise is a great stress reliever. When I was juggling my job with raising children and running interference with an emotionally unhealthy spouse, I learned that a ½ hour jog could press my reset button to calm as if I had taken a medicine. The endorphins released are...
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Go Bucks – Part 2

Last week I shared with you my Buckeye fever and disillusionment with what I had learned about Coach Urban Meyer. One of my readers who is an avid Buckeye fan helped me to see sides of Coach Meyer that were not the subject of the flurry of articles that only focused on his...
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Go Bucks!

Some of you may know that I’m a Buckeye. This means that I graduated from The Ohio State University, but to make the significance even deeper, I grew up in Ohio most of my life. So even though I’ve lived in New England for 16 years, I still watch with fervor as many OSU games as...
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More than a car ride – Part 2

Last week we pondered the analogies between technological advances we take for granted and our abilities to believe in the unseen. The capacity for GPS to know our whereabouts is not unlike the omniscience of God. Relying on the unseen without full understanding is not unlike...
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More than a car ride

When my grandmother was nearing 100 years old she would love to reminisce about her childhood, literally days of horse and buggies before automobiles were readily accessible. And yet in her lifetime man had landed on the moon, and then some! I’m not quite that old (!) but even I...
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Inspiration

I really never know week to week if there will be a new Shabbat encouragement. Yet they seem to happen. Often something will occur earlier in the week that will prompt a message to share. I typically write it at that time, when moved by the experience, and send it on Thursday...
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So much to be grateful for . . .

Thanksgiving arrived this year ahead of schedule. Well, not really, but it sure seemed to be here on the heels of Labor Day which followed so swiftly after the 4th of July which was a blink after Memorial Day, and so it is. . . Life is so precious. Personally, there are loved...
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Silence – Part 2

As “noted” in the Simon and Garfunkel song “Sound of Silence”, “Hello darkness my old friend, I’ve come to talk with you again,” silence is palpable. Last week we saw the power of silence. It can bring us peace and meditative creativity. Or if used deliberately or carelessly by...
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Silence

Quiet is good. There are times, actually many times, that I thoroughly enjoy silence. Or perhaps the rhythmic tap of light rain on the roof can add to the feeling. Add a puppy or two and a fire in the fireplace. . . No doubt most if not all of my creative times come in these...
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Pittsburgh

What more can be said about the tragic shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh? All the truisms are there. These peoples’ and our lives are forever changed. Words of division must end. Greater vigilance is needed. Life is unpredictable and can change on a dime....
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Truth

In the past several weeks we have been unable to avoid, and be drawn into, reports concerning the missing Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The story has unfolded with differing accounts of what happened. What is the truth? Although the stories keep changing about what...
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Not just pretty leaves

Below is an updated version of an encouragement sent last fall. . . 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...
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Little things matter

Earlier this week I caught on the evening news a delightful story. A motorist had hit a squirrel and apparently the little critter had glanced off of the tire rather than run underneath it (thankfully!) The coverage was from a policeman’s body cam video of the driver giving chest...
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Challenges

Sid and I went tent camping this week with my sister Wendy and her husband David at Saranac Lake in the Adirondack Mountains. We actually discovered this place some years back when Sid and I would take the Camp Or L’Dor teens there for their outdoor adventure. Although we don’t...
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The odd couple

This week I discovered a movie that I highly recommend – “Victoria and Abdul” starring Judy Dench and Ali Fazel. The story follows closely a well researched book Victoria & Abdul: The True Story of the Queen’s Closest Confidant by Shrabani Basu which describes the highly...
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A special Day of Atonement

Each week I really don’t know what I’m going to share with you as a word of encouragement until it happens. There is usually a pivotal experience that occurs that guides me as to what the message is to be. This week, however, the most striking event that I knew was to occur did...
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Community

How do people do it? How do they survive with any essence of joy or peace in life without being part of a God-centered, Yeshua-centered, community? For those of you who do not have this option in the flesh, I understand and know that even virtual community counts. But for those...
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Friends

Dedicated to our dear friend Annette Salinger who left this realm earlier this week and now I’m sure is resting peacefully in Messiah’s arms. “Friends” – Of course you remember the iconic sitcom of that name about a group of guys and gals living in close proximity and their many...
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Fighting to live

Despite the heat this morning, I forced myself to at least try to jog, or walk, in order to have my special time with HaShem, of course while listening to spiritually uplifting music. As I passed the abandoned original lobsterman’s tiny home up the street where the most recent...
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