Justice and Mercy

To me, justice and mercy are a pair of ideas that, while they don't always work together, they can be two of the best partners in judgement. Justice, to me, means upholding the law and punishing wrong-doers. However, mercy is being kind and compassionate to those in need. Because of that, it makes giving judgement to a person who is down on luck sort of difficult to one who has not done it before. Sometimes though, all it takes is a tender heart to give proper judgement and punishment to those who deserve it.

The Lord's Plumb Line

In the book of Amos, the Lord uses a plumb line as an symbol of his law. It is always straight, and to truly be with him, you have to walk that straight line perfectly. He used an object we know about and know to prove something 100% straight to signify his law being 100% straight.

Today, the message of Amos is to be kind to those who are unfortunate. Don't beat them down and take advantage of them due to the fact that they are poor. If you can, help them to get their feet back underneath them so they can get back to life. Also, keep with the Lord's law. He didn't write it for His own good. He did it for ours. Because he takes the time to pay attention to us and help us when we ask, the least we can do is follow the rules he has laid down in our benefit.

Becoming an Adult

This week, an assignment has me write about what becoming an adult means for me. It means I will be old enough to support myself. I will probably move out of Mom and Dad's house and into an apartment of my own, get a job, and probably go to college. What I look forward to for being an adult is maybe more freedom. I will be able to do what I want, but I will still go to Mom and Dad for advice for years to come. What I don't want to do as soon as I am an adult is probably get a family of my own. I want to make sure I have enough money to support a family before I even think of getting married. Mom and Dad both did that, and it turned out well for them. Do I want to become an adult now, no. I want to enjoy the last few years of "child"hood while I can before I have to become 100% responsible for myself. I could see myself becoming an adult and becoming independent by the time I am eighteen or nineteen years old. Until then, being a kid is what is important, and I am going to enjoy it.

Honeyed Fruit cake

Today I made a Honeyed Fruit Cake for school. It is a food normally eaten at Rosh Hashanah to symbolize sweet things for the upcoming year.

Here is the dough after I put it into the pans. It kinda looks like chocolate chip banana muffin mix. I blame the light and the fact that the pictures were taken on my Ipod. Sorry.

Here are the loaves after I finished baking them. The upside down one had its bottom burnt to the bottom of the pan, so it was a pain to get out. We will be having at least one of these beautiful loaves with dinner. Can't wait to try them!

Color in my life

This week I am studying the Phoenicians and how they used murex snails to dye clothing red and purple.

Colors are important in my life because I don't like everything looking the same. I enjoy a diversity in my surroundings. If I lived like the Phoenicians, in a brown world, where everything was mostly dust, brown buildings, the grass, and then the blue of the sky and ocean, I would definitely miss the other, rarer colors such as red, orange, yellow, and purple. If I was a Phoenician and found a way to make clothing red or purple, like they did, I would be thrilled at having a new color to wear. The Phoenicians added more color to their clothing when they discovered that the dye extracted from murex snails could change the color of cloth and stay that way. Due to the fact that they could only extract drops from the snails, it took a long time to get the dye to color an entire toga.

The final question in this activity is if I would like an environment with more or fewer colors. I prefer more color to add to the fun of life. I prefer to be in nature when the flowers are in bloom, or the trees are budding. To add color in my life, I think I will get some flowers or other plants that have colorful blooms and plant them outside this spring.

Ecclesiastes and Discussions about it

This morning, I read the book of Ecclesiastes and I have to say it is a very depressing book. It sounds like the person who wrote it is a HUGE pessimist and was really down on life. He believes in enjoying life the way it is and not regretting having a good time. You won't take earthly belongings to Heaven, so don't hoard it for yourself on earth. Today's exercise asks me if it sounds like something someone I know would write, and I have to say it doesn't. Evyn can be a pessimist sometimes, but never as bad as the guy who wrote Ecclesiastes. It also asks how I think he felt when he wrote it, like if he's down or a pessimist, and if not, was he giving a realistic point of life. I would say a bit of both, as I described earlier. It is a bit of a realistic point of life, but life isn't a bad as he portrayed it. There is hope in everything we do, and all we need to do is find it.

Another activity is what would I tell a friend who sounded like the author of Ecclesiastes. I would tell them to lighten up and look at the good side of life, the glass is half full, stuff like that. If all you ever do is look at the bad side of life, you will never enjoy yourself. If you have a heavy heart because of something, and that's why you are down, cheer up, because a cheerful soul is more likely to heal faster than a heavy heart.

Psalm 51

Today I had to read Psalm 51. It taught me that God is forgiving if you come to Him with your problems and will help you forget your sins if you repent of them. He would rather you came to him with a heart full of sadness over sins rather than coming to him with sacrifices to try to gain forgiveness. I also now know that no matter how many bad things you do, if you come to God, he will except you for who you are and wipe your slate clean.