Tonight  we celebrate the first night of Shavuot. Literally translated, it means "weeks". However, most of our protestant kin refer to this holiday as Pentecost.  Both names for the holy day come from the counting of time from the last holy day celebrated, which was Passover.  Shavuot occurs 50 days or several weeks after Passover.  Pentecost translated in Greek means "the holiday of 50 days."

 For the Jew

The purpose of Shavuot is to celebrate the giving of the Ten Commandments from Mt. Sinai. This event was celebrated in Deuteronomy 4:

God spoke to you from the midst of the fire; you were hearing the sound of words, but you were not seeing a form, only a sound. He told you of His covenant, instructing you to keep the Ten Commandments  and He inscribed them on two stones.

Traditionally, it is custom to stay up the entire night learning Torah and say morning prayers the following day. It is also treated similar to the Sabbath, where in no work is permitted. The only exception is that you can prepare food.

In Exodus 23, a prohibition of the mixing of milk and meat is laid out. Some Jews also celebrate Shavuot by fixing two meals: one of milk and one of meat. Dairy meals might be comprised of cheesecake or puddings (definitely something I could get behind).  Through out the Old Testament, there are references to the Torah (word of God) as nourishing milk.

For the Christian

As a protestant, there is an important lesson to learn from our Jewish heritage in the Holy Day of Shavuot. They are celebrating God caring enough to give us His word. Furthermore, for the Christian, it is significant because it was during Pentecost that the Holy Spirit descended:

When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly  a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what  seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

We have every reason as the Jews to celebrate Shavuot!  Not only has God given us his Word, but He has also sent the Holy Spirit to help us.

Take Away

For my family, we will sit down this evening and talk about the significance of God caring enough about  us to share His Word with us. Definitely will find some cheese cake as well.

It's almost the end of Mother's Day on Southern Planes of Texas, so instead of focusing on authentic manhood, it seems appropriate to explore the meaning of motherhood. I was raised by an alcoholic mother with no father, so my understanding of a mom may differ in parts from the norm. Yet, at the same time, I have watched my wife mother three children over the past 11 years, so there is some merit in redefining it.

1. Motherhood is not following Proverbs 31 to the last letter. There is many a women's ministry that means well pushing women to follow the godly example outlined in Lemeul's work, but I think it adversely distorts a mother's perception of reality.  A woman cannot expect to fully follow the commands any more than a man can expect to love his bride as Christ loves the church.  It is a goal, not a measurement of woman's worth.
   
2. Mother's do not have to find a career outside the home. I firmly agree that women should be treated equally in the workplace (after all I work in an HR dept.), but that does not mean they were created equal. They have different needs, desires, and sources of fulfillment. They should not feel forced to work outside the home in order to be successful in life. Rather, a stay at home mom (especially the one who homeschools) has a full time job raising the kids, while the husband is at work. Not that dad shouldn't pitch in when he comes home, but that 9 to 5 business of being a personal taxi service, ad hoc nurse, on the fly arbiter is a magnitude of responsibility for one person to manage on their own.
   
   At the same time, I want to be very clear with my intent. I have no problem with the many moms who choose to work outside the home. More power to you, if that's what you feel comfortable doing. My faith is strong and wide enough to understand that God has something in store for the women in their sphere of influence (read: ministry) at work as much as the stay at home mom. Just making the point that you are not less than a mom just because you don't contribute financially to the household.
   
3. Mother's do not live in Martha Stewart's house.  This is by far the hardest lesson I have learned. For many years, I had this unrealistic expectation that our house should be spic and span at all times. The reality of the situation is two fold. If you are a stay at home mom, then your hands are full with taking care of the children. Likewise, if you are at work all day, you are just as exhausted coming home. The cleanliness of your house does not define how successful you are at being a mom!
   
4. Mothers need help to be mothers.  Parenthood was never intended to be a one sided job. It's too much responsibility for one person! It takes two to create and two to take care of them once they've been created. Authentic men will be servants to the wives needs, pitching in around the house and actively raising the children. In turn, this gives the moms the freedom and breathing room to grow into their role as a mother. I have also found that we learn from each other's parenting style, when we are working together.
   
5. Authentic mothers are rooted in God. Seems like a natural enough statement, but often gets overlooked in our American Christian subcultures. We hear many a sermon about how the man is the spiritual leader of the family. But in reality, a mother is just as responsible for representing Christ to her children as dad. God doesn't let you off the hook on the account of following the husband's lead (check out Adam and Eve for more details). Rather, in order to grow into the role of motherhood, you have to go to the source who created it in the first place. 

I have been looking for that verse that justifies me losing my mind & throwing all patience out the window at the end of a very disappointing day, but its not there. It is our second day of vacation and we have dealt with:

• Switching hotels and having the first hotel refuse to refund our money to Expedia, who in turn will not refund us. We will have to call the hotel owner on Monday to settle things.
• Was rained out of Six Flags which lead to its own set of problems
• They did not offer refunds, only rain checks. There was an 80% chance of rain fall tomorrow and the line for rain checks was several hundred people deep. We were not going to wait in the rain any longer with the kids.
• Our clothes and shoes were soaked. Our oldest didn't pack another set of shoes.
• Left our ponchos in the car and had to buy more.
• All the rides were shut down. We road one ride before they closed it down. So we drove 5 hours, paid for tickets, hotel, food, etc. for nothing. 
• Driving through construction in Dallas / Ft. Worth. I am sure the locals who read this blog are laughing at us, but for not having a clue where anything was and how to drive in thick traffic is difficult enough without the construction.
• Dealing with an exhausted toddler whose new form of communication when angry is biting.
• Likewise dealing with a 7 year old who only knows how to communicate when she feels slighted by screaming (when most of the time she just has a distorted perspective).  

I think the most disappointing thing was that we had saved this money to go on a vacation together and it feels like we are just throwing it away. On top of this, my wife and I are physically and mentally exhausted. We realize the kids are as well, but we have no patience left!

I realized in writing this that Christ promised rest. Going to bed and start over tomorrow. Refreshed, renewed and willing to make lemonade out today's experience.