
A Thank-giving message
This reminds me of a Bible passage I studied a few weeks ago where Jacob saw that ladder. When he awakes from his dream, he declares in surprise that he has slept on holy ground and honors it in his way. For me, I hold that every place can be sacred, every time a time of blessing, each of us holy people; it all depends on what we do with it.
As I continued to consider the continuation of Jacob’s story other this became relevant. Jacob was returning to his ancestral home after fourteen years in hopes of making amends with his brother Esau. He had initially left out of fear that Esau was going to kill him because Jacob stole their father’s blessing. Just before he gets to Esau, Jacob learns that his brother is waiting for him with an army of 400 soldiers. He is afraid and reminds God of the bargain they made. For those like me who are troubled by the concept of bargaining with God, it could be troubling that Jacob had so little faith that he reminded God of his promise. From this we can see how fear can interfere with faith.
One of the beauties of this and other Bible passages is that these texts portray the patriarchs and matriarchs of all the Judaic/Christian traditions as ordinary human beings full of the same traumas, guilt, flaws and anxieties that trouble us.
Jacob letting his feeling interfere with his faith is certainly something that I experience. As an example, I like the kind of quiet that snow brings, the feel of mist on my face, or the smell of a wind coming off Cape Cod Bay. Other times, it’s just inconvenient and cold. While it would be better to appreciate whatever “God” puts into my life or the world sometimes what rises in me is complaints. One remedy for me is that if I have a problem with something, then I have some glitch in me, or I am resisting some lesson, or I simply don’t understand the big picture, or I’m failing to notice the tiny flowers under my feet.
Through this and the previous lessons, we can see that we have the ability to transcend the material and be and to act as holy persons right here – right now, each and every day, every minute. We can rise to the higher planes and become these holy people (our true selves), and through this effort we can bring this holiness down to our communities and bring holiness to the world.