I Need Rams and Bulls*

I was reading the first half of Numbers 23:1-3 and I could not help but laugh because of my big, creative imagination. Read this scripture and then I will explain.

Balaam said, “Build me seven altars here, and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me.”  Balak did as Balaam said, and the two of them offered a bull and a ram on each altar.

 Then Balaam said to Balak, “Stay here beside your offering while I go aside. Perhaps the Lord will come to meet with me. Whatever he reveals to me I will tell you.” Then he went off to a barren height."

etc...

First of all Balaam tells Balak, “Build me seven altars here, and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me.” First I am assuming he has to get the animals before he can sacrifice them.  I am picturing Balak trying to catch seven bulls and seven rams..  He decides to gather some of his friends to help him. Some of them chickened out and asked, "Are you crazy or what?" Yet Balak insisted that he needed these animals so he can hear from God.

So he gathers about 5 of the strongest men he knows.  

(photobucket.com)

"One by one they capture the rams. Okay 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7...yes they are all here. We have captured 7 rams. Okay now we need 7 bulls." 

He and his friends head over to where the bulls are.

Have you seen a bull lately? They are not the most gentle animals out there. And you must never make them mad, is what I gathered when watching a bull fight on TV awhile ago.  

(wikipedia.org)

Picture Balak getting ready. He has made a loop in his rope and has it ready to catch the big bull. He throws the lassoed rope and misses the bull. He gathers up the rope again and throws it again. Missed again.

The next thing you know, the bull is running towards him. Balak is getting all hot and sweaty...He is gritting his teeth because this bull won't cooperate and he is thinking as he is running down the field: "Man, I have to get seven of these." He yells for his macho friends to help...They are doing the best they can by lassoing their own ropes and swinging them toward the bull. Yet they keep missing.

The next thing you know is that there are 10 bulls running down the field in their direction.  All the men are scattered in the field running for their lives. They each finally get to the same spot, yet out of breath. The older guy asks Balak how badly does he need these bulls...Balak tells him that he really needs them. Another guy pipes in and says that he knows of a place in the city next over where they can buy the 7 bulls. They all decided unanimously that they will just go buy the 7 bulls in the next city over.

Balak finally presents the 7 rams and 7 bulls to Ballam to sacrifice.

I have just given you a picture of what might have happened at the beginning of Numbers 23... Some of the stories in the Bible, we have to speculate what happened because, they do not tell all of the details. Like this story you just read, Ballam tells Balak to sacrifice 7 rams and 7 bulls; he doesn't say how he was going to get the animals that he had to sacrifice. Just picture yourself in that situation and see where it takes you.

The rest of the story you will have to read on your own to find out what happened...

Check out Numbers 23 from www.biblegateway.com 

Are you like a Cat?*

I have noticed that my cat Buttons has a mind of his own. Buttons comes to me when he is hungry, when he wants love, and when he wants to play yet ignores me when he wants to, like when I want to pet him. Yet he always comes running when I am cooking or if I give him his food.  He comes to me when he wants attention, like when he wants me to pet his long-haired fur. Many times, even in the middle of the night, he will meow to get my attention while I am asleep and wake me up, just for me to pet him.  I won't allow him on my bed, so I tend to sleepily, throw down my arm and try to find him in the darkest of night to stroke his gobs of fur.  During those times, he just starts purring as though he is content because he has made contact with me and then he will go off on his merry way. There are other times, I just ignore him because I am too tired to reach down to where he is even though he will be persistent in his meows. Sometimes I wake up with him just starring at me while sitting beside my bed.  I wonder how long he watches me.

During the day, I enjoy petting Buttons. He has this beautiful purr that touches my heart.  I like to cuddle him in my arms and pet him. I don't have children, so this is the next best thing, or is it? lol. Half of the time, he tries to jump out of my reach so I can't touch him when he doesn't want to be petted. Most of the time if he wants to be petted, he will come to me so I will pet him. I love it when he throws his body down, and lands belly up; it's my invitation to rub his belly.  Yet there are those times that he still wants to be rubbed but he will lay just far enough so I have to move closer to him so I can pet him... Even when I give him treats, at times, he will sit or lay close to me, yet far enough for me to have to reach him.  I decided he may be trying to play a game or outsmart me, so I put the treats where he has to move.  I have seen him become so lazy that he won't even get up; he will lay down while he eats his treats or food.

My cat can be a "scared-y" cat at times.  If I turn on the vacuum cleaner in the living room, he will run as fast as he can and go hide under the bed. Then when I am vacuuming the bedroom, I know he is under the bed and I know he will jump out and run to the living room.  He scares me at times when he jumps out from under the bed even though I know he will do it. It's like I know he is coming, but I never know just quite when. He hates those vacuum cleaners.

I have a recliner. I have to be careful with the recliner. Because when I pull the leverage to recline the chair, Buttons runs as fast as he can to the other room as though the recliner is alive. He is afraid of the mop, the broom, and even anyone that comes to the door. He will growl when he hears the doorbell ring.  I kind of feel sorry for the 15 lbs of fur.  I try to console him when he is afraid.

If I pet Buttons too much, he voices his complaint. If I don't pet him as much as he wants, he starts meowing even more. Yet I have learned to understand the different ways he meows to know what he wants. I know when He is hungry, doesn't want to be disturbed, when he is sick, wants attention, when he is afraid, wants to be petted, or just misses me.

The more I think about it, I realize that sometimes I am like Buttons. I go to God when I want something. I want him to nourish me, keep me healthy, and console me when I am afraid. I want him to take care of my needs and my wants when I want them taken care of.  I know there are times that I do not want to be bothered, don't want to pray, don't want to do what God wants me to do, and I even will vocalize my complaints to him. I may do everything else that I think I am supposed to do while I am in God's presence but then I realize I haven't shut off the Internet, the cell phone, Facebook,  the radio, and maybe the TV.

Today, I had to make a special effort. I turned off everything for 1 hour and had a candle light dinner with God. I realized that my mind was racing because of all the advertisements I had seen today. All the bright lights that are on the high-tech things I own felt like it was making my brain literally light up.  Then I had all these ideas running through my brain of all the to-do-lists of things like, I have to check my emails, my Facebook, my Blog, and all the other stuff I do with all these high-tech things I own and use daily. I had to keep refocusing on God and his presence.

 I realized I haven't been spending a lot of quiet time with God. I am either reading about Him, writing about Him, etc...but I haven't had quiet time with him. So again, I turned the high tech things off, and decided to spend more time with God. I decided to lay face down on the ground, and pray.  I  sensed God tell me to just keep silent before the Lord before I spoke a prayer to Him.  The only thing I heard was the buzzing sound from the air purifier in my living room. I remember thinking, wow this is so nice and peaceful as I had my head face down on the blue pillow I had on the carpet.  But then I started to think about other things.  

Like I said earlier,  it  is so easy to get consumed with all this stuff now-a-days.  I remember when I was younger, I used to just think about like what is for dinner, or what is on my to-do-lists when I would try to pray and I would have to refocus.  Yet now it seems like it is so much harder to focus on God even when praying. I try to pray through out the day when I am doing things around the house or even when I go out, I acknowledge God in my mind and heart daily.  Yet I noticed I need to get back to having more quiet times with God.

Well, there I was, I finally was refocused on God. Then next thing you know, I felt a plop. Well, if anyone could hear a plop, I could...I look up from the blue pillow that I was leaning on to find Buttons' back, right at my face.  I told you he has a mind of his own. I began to pet him, and of course, he started purring. But then I realized, I had stopped praying and lost my focus on God and started to pet Buttons.  It was then that I realized I am a lot like this cat when it comes to doing what he wants, when he wants, and how he wants to do things. It is so easy to get distracted when praying. Well, I stopped petting the pile of fluff that was in front of my face and started praying to God.  

I love Buttons so much, and I know he loves me. He knows that I will take care of him.  God loves me so much, and I love Him and yes, I know that He will take care of me. When I go to touch Buttons, I realize that God reaches out to me, just as much, and even more. When I hear Buttons purring his contentment. It reminds me that God knows how much I love him. He hears my delightful heart.  But then again, when I know Buttons is ignoring me or wanting to do things his way, it makes me realize that God knows when we ignore Him and want to do things are own way. It is hard, but I need to stop acting like a cat, and really focus my attention on my God who loves me and takes care of me just like I take care of my cat.  

All pictures of Buttons where taken by Expressive Praise. 

The Spoon Theory-Christine*

Please read this post about "The Spoon Theory."  I didn't write it but I thought it will help you understand people who go through chronic pain, cancer, or other health issues that are hard to deal with... There are so many people with tremendous health concerns and the thing that would mean the world to them, is for you to understand them better.

A lady named  Christine Miserandino came up with this story "The Spoon Theory"  for her friends to help them understand what she goes through daily.

One of the hardest things about dealing with silent chronic illnesses that no one can see, is that people tend to not understand or don't believe the person is in pain.

I even have had a lot of people tell me that they didn't think I was in pain or felt sick all of the time because I do not look like it a lot or do not always complain about it.  They think the only time I am in pain is when I complain about it. Yet they don't realize that if I complain about it, that is usually when the pain is severe at that moment. For example: Besides Fibromyalgia (the silent illness), one of the many things I deal with is headaches. I have had headaches for 18 years; it lasts every second, every minute, every hour, every day, every month, and every year. Yet every now and then I might say my head hurts, but I only complain about the headache when it has increased greatly.

If you dislike it when people talk or complain about pain, then just bare with me, while you read the article please.  If you are one of those people who deal with the silent, chronic illness or pain, then you will totally understand the story. My definition of a silent illness is  having an illness that is painful with numerous problems, yet most of the time you can not tell by looking at me that I am in a lot of pain or that I have anything wrong with me. That is why I am encouraging people to read the spoon theory from But You Don't Look Sick.

This story is well written and it will mean a lot to me if you read it.... Please feel free to comment on it too. "Please take the time to read Christine Miserandino’s personal story and analogy of what it is like to live with sickness or disability. "

click on this link to read about "The Spoon Theory" : 
http://www.butyoudontlooksick.com/wpress/articles/written-by-christine/the-spoon-theory/

pictures and quote above are from
http://www.butyoudontlooksick.com/wpress/articles/written-by-christine/the-spoon-theory/