Browsers, Grazers & Growers: Which are You?

Browsers are livestock, such as goats, that like to nibble here, nibble there, eat pretty much anything. They aren't picky or discerning and self-willed fence-jumping suits them to a "T".
Grazers, on the other hand, such as sheep and cattle, while not particularly discriminating, if they are put on good grass with adequate clean water are content and prosper. Some, for the sake of the owners, can be used to lure the flock or herd into cars headed for the slaughter houses---the Judas sheep. But that is a problem of the Owners. Most sheep, though, are competent grazers, and gladly go about the life of being a "sheep". In every flock, though, there are some who are particularly productive.
The Growers are what I would call these individuals. They are especially adept at turning their grazing grass into an abundance of meat, or fleece, or milk, or lambs. Different breeds have different characteristic strengths (or gifts).
Within the people called "Israel", all three---Browsers, Grazers, and Growers---live, often side by side.
Hope you aren't simply a browser goat...!
So then it comes down simply to this question---are you simply grazing the grass of "Israel" or are you growing Israel? Whatever your special gifts are, it seems to me, we are all called to grow Israel!

Jezebel, Judas, Sapphira, Yordim, and other "J" Persons---

What to do?
At whatever level one experiences the reality of "Israel"---personal, fraternal, or communal---sooner or later the painful experience of loss or betrayal is encountered. Relationships are torn asunder, death seems to rule the day as well as the night. Life seems to have departed, and God is nowhere close at hand... Elijah's triumph on Mt. Carmel is followed by full-blown retreat at the threats of Jezebel. In the present day, the joyous arrival of new "olim" (immigrants) making "aliyah" gets balanced with the reality of the "yordim", those who depart after having had some taste of life in Israel. The word yordim, literally in Hebrew those gone down or departed, has the same root as Yarden (the Jordan River), or yarad which is the basis for "yored geshem"---the rain is coming down. The Yarden descends or rushes down from Mt. Hermon on its way to the Dead Sea. When the experience of departing betrayal and abandonment presses upon us, what are we to do? When the tears are falling, what are we to do? When the loss or death of someone seems overwhelming, what are we to do? Rachel weeping over her children in exile---is she comforted? Is there any comfort to the one betrayed by Judas? Did Elijah find comfort in the wilderness? Is the mourner comforted?
Before the "comforter" can come, the cup must be drunk, that is completely drained. The physical rawness, the sharp bitters that bring tears to the eyes, the raw anguish of soul, and the raw spiritual blackness---all must be drunk, to the full, sooner or later. This is the classic pattern of grieving or mourning, and all the phases will be passed through before the "comforter" is finally known. And avoidance only postpones. Neither the darkness of the Garden night, nor the cup go away.
Grieving, as a son or daughter of Israel, has its appointed times. And I believe the God of Israel has a unique and special provision for his grieving children. There is a Hebrew Wisdom if we will receive her. During the First Gulf War, while I was in Jordan, my father died back in the States, and three weeks to late I learned of his death. The seven-day memorial candle and sitting "sheva" (the seven day period of mourning) help us move through the experience, drinking the cup fully, and then coming to the day when the paralysis of grief is broken and we can rise up to life once more. It is my conviction that the God of Israel has been sitting "sheva" for seven Biblical days, drinking fully the cup of His children's betrayal, death, and exile. But the day of grieving is not ordained to last forever, for God, for Rachel, for you, for me. Death is followed by New Life, Darkness by a New Day. The closets can be cleaned out, the departed ones' clothes can finally be let go... And as the Word says will be the case, the tears are wiped away.
What to do? Not recriminations. Not angry fulminations in the face of God. Not despairing pity parties. Not speculative imaginations of what ifs...
What to do? Mourn and "sit." Remember---memories do have a function, blessed and releaseful... And "sit" and wait for the day when we can then take hold of the Promises of God made to the children of Israel. "Weeping endureth for a night, but joy comes with the dawning of a new Day."

The Candlestands are Lighted

Shabbat Shalom from Zavitan Street---

After an arduous process of removing many years of tarnish, polishing, and finding candles to fit, Lampstands for the Two Houses of Israel were lit last night. Using seven-day memorial candles, seemed especially fitting to remember the long burial in the death of the wilderness exile. Never forgotten, always remembered by the God of Israel, it is the appointed time of Return, Restoration, Light, Life, and Redeeming Work.