Gratitude

One of the remarkable things (in the mind of others) was that; despite being in the hospital I would continue to write out my tithe checks from the disability payments that I would receive each month. So why did I do it? Out of obligation? To impress others with my spirituality?

No! It was gratitude. If you notice the word it has the word "attitude" (minus one t) meaning: manner, disposition, feeling, position, etc., with regard to a person or thing; tendency or orientation, esp. of the mind (from http://www.dictonary.com/). And to me, the first two letters "gr" could be short for "grateful": warmly or deeply appreciative of kindness or benefits received; thankful: (also from http://www.dictionary.com/).

So in short gratitude is: "having manner, disposition, feeling, position, etc. with regard to being warmly or deeply appreciative of kindness or benefits, received" or just in one word "thankful". What did I have to be thankful for?

Yes, I had tubes and other things sticking out of me. I had a time where my only nourishment came from a tube coming through an IV (for 4 1/2 months). I couldn't bathe myself. There was a time where I was in restraints and couldn't move around. A period of time where I was being "breathed for", etc....but at least I was still alive.

If nothing else, I was thankful for that. And to use a term from Pesach (Passover), Dayenu (it would have been enough). And for me it would have been enough for me to still be alive. But I was blessed to be in a place where there are hospitals, blessed to have nurses, doctors, CNAs, and staff who kept an eye on me, blessed to have parents that loved me enough to take me to the hospital, etc.....

So if God loved me enough to care for me, should I show my thankfulness for His love by sharing the blessings that I have been given through the tithe, this blog, etc.....

From Death to life

This is something I got from an e-mail from Varya, a wonderful friend in Israel and I thought was something that I would share.....

This is something very special that touched my heart deeply this last week:

I found a broken tree trunk in the street on my way home about three months ago. Its branches were all broken, but I took it home because it was beautiful and I was hoping maybe one branch would survive. It didn't, so I had to cut it off and just left this stump at home for some reason, and then almost forgot about it. For about three months it looked totally dead... and now, look, what happened - it budded! all of a sudden I saw one big bud and then about 5 more small ones all over it! It is so beautiful and encouraging to see how life prevails in all of His Creation. No matter how dead it may look, God can bring it back to life some day!

The nature so reflects His character and even His plan of salvation. Isaiah 11 clearly speaks about the Messiah and refers to Him metaphorically as "a shoot" that "will come up from the stump of Jesse" (Jesse - the line of King David: Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth, Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of King David).

Here are the photos of my resurrected stump :-)




























This year may we all see a lot of beautiful resurrections in our lives, in the lives of our families and friends, and in the lives of the people of our nations!

Many Blessings,
Varya

The real date that will live in infamy....

PS-I happened to notice what today is and I was struck with the irony.

I'm here because there were people dedicated to keeping me alive. However there are "doctors" out there dedicated to making others dead. Was the difference that I was a "person" and they are not? It shouldn't after all-"a person's a person, no matter how small"- (and if the widow of Dr. Seuss doesn't like the line being used for a pro-life stand; too bad-he shouldn't have written it!) and science has shown that an embryo is a person.

So if we are to have true health care reform-shouldn't it be dedicated to making sure all are born alive and that they have the right to as long and healthy a life that they should have? If not, then when each person is born, along with our social security number, should they assign us a cemetary plot as well?

So much for my "ed"-itoral. I'll get off the soapbox now...and get ready for the rest of my day.....

End of the road?

I was in Dr. Metersky's (surgeon and all-around good guy)office filling out some insurance papers yesterday, when he let me know that he put my "return-to-work" date for March 1, 2010. Or appoximately 24 months after the trouble with my appendix all began.

While one half of my brain is celebrating, the other half remembers what has happened the last 24 months with other promise dates having been dangled in front of me like a carrot and then taken away. An example was a surgery that had been set for the last week in July, but had to be postponed when one of the assistants to the surgeon was out of town.

So I have learned that all dates are as firm as jello and to write them down in pencil. In the book of James we are told "Instead, you ought to say, 'If Adonai wants it to happen, we will live' to do this or that." (James 4:17 Complete Jewish Bible)

So I'll remain cautiously optimistic. As Ronald Reagan used to say; "Trust, but verify." And wait until March 1st rolls around. If I go to work that day, it'll be good. If not, it'll be good too...at least I'm not spending the day being part of San Fernando Cemetary....

24 months of a wounded bird

Why "wounded bird"? Well actually one of my nicknames is "Eagle" (which has my initals in it[egl])...that's the bird side, the "wounded" side is from what I had to go though the last 24 months with the pain in my body.

Kind of hard to believe that it has almost been 24 months since the start of my bout with appendicitis/perotinitus (you would have figured that I would have learned to spell it by now). Just checked and it is spelled peritonitis. (ha, ha)

During that period of time I spent times in and out of a couple of hospitals, had at least 7 doctors tell my parents that I was dying, had some fun and not so fun experiences with doctors, nurses, staff, etc... and learned some things along the way, some of which I'll share and then from there it'll probably be like other blogs where thoughts, opinions etc... are shared.

Speaking of something learned.... going through hospitalization can be extremely frustrating and lonely. So one of the ways to combat it is something that my parents put together while I was going through my time in the hospital. What they did was get a journal (just a regular blank writing journal) and have everyone who either was working on or visiting me come in and write something in the journal.

That way whenever I felt lonely or weary (and when you spend day after day like I did, you get to be lonely), I had a source of encouragement because there was a reminder that there were people that were encouraging me, supporting me, praying for me, or doing the same for my parents. And nothing picks up your feelings remembering that there are people who care and want to see you again.

So if you've got someone in the hospital, find something that will keep them encouraged and remind them that they have something/someone to live for.