Once in seven, time sanctified for/by our Father.

My little sister is attending some sort of private Christian elementary school. Forgive me for not knowing its name, but I barely have known about my sister for five months, and she lives with my father, two hundred miles away, where the seasons circle each other, so I haven't been able to be very involved in her life. Her teachers must be covering the account of the creation of the world in Genesis, because she repeats to herself "God created the heavens and the earth in seven days." We all have to correct her that it was six days, not seven! Haha... but it's important. God condescended even in His creation, to set a precedent for humanity that we require one day in seven to rest. Note that this is not only a religious principle, even though the LORD spelled out His intentions when He spoke from Sinai saying "Remember the Sabbath to keep it holy" (Exodus 20:8). It's been proven that humans need time to spend away from work, and the number turns out to be about one in seven--especially since seven is the number we count our weeks by.

You know, reader, I have counted the blessings God has given to me, and they outnumber my innumerable sins, for Love does not keep record of wrongs suffered, but Love bore those impossible burdens forever in a day, lifting them like evaporation to the skies above to shower down blessings from heaven. One of the chief blessings God has given me has been my parents' failed marriage. Now, neither of my parents are abusive, so it wasn't any kind of physical salvation I'm referring to, nor do I condone or suggest this vow-breaking without biblical cause! As Christians, we are given the ministry of reconciliation to restore physical relationships in the same way as we lead others to the spiritual rift that the Bible reveals that Jesus restrains.

Jesus, can You show me just how far the east is from the west?
"From one scarred hand to the other." 


Stop tangenting, Joseph!

Alright. Back to my sketchtastic (as Erin and Vicki would say) comment on divorce being a blessing: I believe it has been God's greatest blessing to me because of the lessons it has taught me, both [from the stark lack of a father revealing my inability to be holy and all the rest of the omissions I have seen] and the ways I have had to learn how to better honor my parents when they do not love each other. It's a breach of contract, yes, but I was not the one who made the vows before God, so I am still bound to love. Because my family's greatest flaw (and numerous others' I believe, unfortunately!) is the utter breakdown in communication, I sometimes find it odd when my parents sometimes abruptly feel like talking about the past. I'm always welcome to any information, but our emotions sometimes get the best of ourselves, so I feel that sometimes the truth gets distorted in one of their accounts of the past, which is really discouraging. How do I tell when the truth becomes gossip? Even if I were not bound to honor my parents (now individually instead of as a unit), it is in my duty to love my neighbor by protecting his reputation even when others speak poorly of him behind his back.

But more importantly, my divorced father has taught me by his absence the importance of the time we get to spend together. He drives 200 miles every other week to spend 1 day with Calvin and me. If that isn't a type of committed love, I don't know what is. Similarly, my heavenly Father has commanded me to cease from my daily routine, to hallow (set apart) time for Him, and to rest from my own ways by singing His praises, studying His words, and laying my questions and requests and thanksgivings before His throne. My divorced father and I talk all the time we have, and he helps us with all sorts of problems, computer-related or otherwise (he's a sys.-administrator, which basically translates to "computer doctor."), and he's currently helping Calvin learn how to drive. This is nerve-wracking. Whenever anyone in my immediate family gets behind a steering wheel (myself included), I suddenly become a better supplicant.

Here's the application of said controversial statement:
I must dedicate this time to my Father by not staying up too late the night before.
I must dedicate this time to my Father by finishing my studies and clearing my schedule to accommodate His command.
I must dedicate this time to my Father by cutting out my own pleasure if necessary to finish my work.
I must dedicate this time to my Father by preparing my heart to come into His presence.

My divorced father expects Calvin and me to drag our lazy behinds out of bed and hobble over to his parents' house by 9 AM on "his" Saturdays for a day spent with him. This presumes a good night's sleep (whatever that is), a shower, and the absence of chores and homework and studying and work that would need to be done in those hours dedicated to him. And if I can do these things for my earthly father, surely I can do the same for God Almighty.

"[Musical] rests are an exercise in calligraphy..." --Professor Rasmussen

"Cry aloud, do not hold back; raise your voice like a trumpet,
and declare to My people their transgression and to the house of Jacob their sins.


"Yet they seek Me day by day and delight to know My ways,
as a nation that has done righteousness and has not forsaken the ordinance of their God.
They ask Me for just decisions, they delight in the nearness of God.


"Why have we fasted and You do not see?
Why have we humbled ourselves and You do not know?"


Behold, on the day of your fast you find your desire, and drive hard all your workers.


"Behold, you fast for contention and strife and to strike with a wicked fist. 
You do not fast like you do today to make your voice heard on high.


"Is it a fast like this which I choose, 
a day for a man to humble himself? [Yom Kippur--Day of Atonement, Leviticus 16 ]
Is it for bowing his head like a reed
and for spreading sackcloth and ashes as a bed?
Will you call this a fast, even an acceptable day to the LORD?


"Is this not the fast which I choose,
to loosen the bonds of wickedness,
to undo the bands of the yoke,
and to let the oppressed go free
and break every yoke?


"Is it not to divide your bread for the hungry
and bring the homeless poor into the house;
when you see the naked, to cover him;
and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?


"Then your light will break out like the dawn, [common analogy for righteousness:dawn]
and your recovery will speedily spring forth;
and your righteousness will go before you;
the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.


"Then you will call and the LORD will answer;
you will cry, and He will say, 'Here I am.'
If you remove the yoke from your midst,
the sending out of the finger and speaking wickedness,
and if you furnish yourself to the hungry
and satisfy the soul of the afflicted,
then your light will rise in darkness
and your gloom will become like midday.


"And the LORD will continually guide you,
and satisfy your soul in scorched places,
and give strength to your bones;
and you will be like a watered garden,
and like a spring of water whose waters do not deceive.


"Those from among you will rebuild the ancient ruins; [Remember, Isaiah was written in the exile]
you will raise up the age-old foundations;
and you will be called the repairer of the breach,
the restorer of the paths in which to dwell.


"If because of the sabbath, you turn your foot [Remember, shabbat: cease, rest]
from doing your own pleasure 


on My holy day,
and call the sabbath a delight, 
the holy day of the LORD 


honorable,
and honor it,


desisting from your own ways,
from seeking your own pleasure 
and speaking your own word,


then you will take delight in the LORD,
and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth;
and I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father,


for the mouth of the LORD has spoken." 
Isaiah 58


Hebrews 3:12-19 (as context for) Hebrews 4