Mellow Days!

I don’t want to let go.  Our summer has been so ineffably sweet, I will hang on to it forever. 

Beautiful weather.  No need to run the AC—except that we occasionally put it on for Baby Dylan when we have to leave him for a few hours in the closed-up home.  Okay there were a couple of times when at home, that we broke the humidity by turning on the AC for very short spells, but always with the doors and windows wide open to the out-of-doors.  And due to the ubiquitous AC in most every indoor place, our favorite summer restaurant has become a local pub with outdoor seating. 

Leisurely early morning strolls around our park.  Visits with friends.  Plenty of summer knitting, which always brings woolly recollections of being 8 years old and learning to knit on the porch of our family cottage at Lake Winnebago.  Bookish naps on our shady afternoon patio.  And best of all, mellow days with the three generations which have resulted from our marriage of 61 years!

Recently Joe and I had the (probably once in a lifetime) experience of having our portraits painted by a friend, Janet Roberts, who is a professional artist.  We didn’t have to sit it out, as Janet works from photographs.  You can check out our portraits (“Joe in Winter Hat” and “Margaret in Summer Hat”) on Janet’s website.  Just GOOGLE “Janet Roberts, Brookfield Wisconsin Artist” and click on “Gallery” from the home page menu,  Voilà!

Our portraits have inspired a lot of mulling and musing.  With all the wonderful photos I have today—hundreds in albums and hundreds more in my computer files—a painted portrait is something unique.  I reflect on how for centuries paintings and sculptures were the only way a person’s image could be captured and preserved.  I think of the court painters such as Holbein, sent out by Henry VIII so he could visualize a future wife.  (I’d sure hate to have been one of those!)  And commodious stairwells lined with ancestors in great houses down through history.  Photography is an amazingly wonderful art, yet there is something ALIVE about paint in the hands of an accomplished artist such as our friend, Janet.

Mellow days, and a summer to remember.  A summer of quiet contentment and simply joys.  A summer of plenty in a world that grows more crazy, more sin ridden and tragically brutal every single day.  A summer in which I feel compelled to share at every possible opportunity, the one and only LIVING HOPE—that hope which is more real than this keyboard on which I type. 

In the midst of a world where an American journalist is decapitated against the background of an American president deeply engrossed in golfing and fund-raising, Our Lord Jesus Christ will return!  As He came to earth 2000 plus years ago to die for our sin and rise victorious over evil, He will return—to gather His own to Himself, and finally to reign for 1000 years in Jerusalem:  KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.

Margaret L. Been, September 2014 

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My Jewish Family, My Jewish Heart

“And so all Israel shall be saved; as it is written, there shall come out of Zion the Deliverer . . . .”  Romans 11:26

“The sons also of them that afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee; and all they that despised thee shall bow themselves down at the soles of they feet; and they shall call thee, The City of the Lord, the Zion of the Holy One of Israel.”  Isaiah 60:14

Try backtracking to November of 1945.  Imagine that you are 12 years old, in the 7th grade.  However, you’ve only attended 10 days of school so far during that entire semester.  In September you picked up a cold that mutated into a strep throat, hanging on for weeks and finally resulting in a serious case of pneumonia.

You lived in a small Wisconsin town which had no hospital.  Your home was located 8o miles north of Milwaukee.  You were sent to Columbia Hospital in Milwaukee for treatment—because a new miracle drug, penicillin (having been used in the armed forces during World War II), had recently been released to that hospital for civilian use.

You were a human guinea pig, alias pin cushion.  Every 3 hours around the clock a nurse came at you, wielding something that looked like it could innoculate a buffalo.  The needles hurt, and the serum was bulky and painful as it was administered into alternating buttocks.  This delightful scenario lasted for 2 weeks, after which you were well enough to go home where you continued penicillin treatment—inhaling the drug through an apparatus that looked like a hookah.

I was that guinea pig/pin cushion.  Praise God, I lived to tell about my introduction to penicillin.  But what does my story have to do with the above-pictured Star of David?  Specifically this:  those 2 weeks were turned into a happy and memorable adventure by a loving Jewish family.

My hospital roommate was a middle-aged Jewish lady.  I don’t remember her name, but I can still see her face and hear her voice in my mind.  She was a serene, friendly lady and she talked and listened to me a lot.  During visiting hours, our room filled with visitors–my roommate’s husband, other family members, and friends.  Since my family members were miles away, this family “adopted” me instantly.  They included me in all their greetings and conversations.  They brought me candy and gifts, just as if I were their kid.

One day the husband (a large, jolly man) brought me a glass elephant with a turned up trunk which pointed skyward.  He said he got it for me because the elephant’s trunk reminded him of my nose.  Since his nose was definitely not turned up, we all laughed hilariously about that.

As I grew older, the hospital experience faded into the misty realm of nearly-forgotten nostalgia.  But it left me with a priceless gift which I now realize is straight from God:  a Jewish heart.

Years later, shortly after becoming a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ at age 37, I attended a Bible study on the book of Romans.  The pastor explained in detail the truths of Romans 11:  how the Jews have always been and and always will be God’s beloved, chosen people, and how the Lord Jesus will return to reign as King in Jerusalem—when “all Israel shall be saved”.

My response to the truths of Romans 11 was drastic.  Love for the Jewish people welled up in me, and I did something I rarely do in public:  I wept.  As I sat there I recalled my Jewish family in that hospital room, and I reviewed the centuries of horrors endured by God’s chosen people—through the Holocaust, right up to the strife occurring in the Middle East at that very moment.

As a Christian, I realize that every moment of my life is known to God.  In Eternity Past, He knew me and He planned my life.  The hospital scenario was no accident; it didn’t “just happen”.  God knew in Eternity Past that I would stand firmly with His nation, Israel.  Years ago, long before I knew Him, God gave me a Jewish heart!

© Margaret L. Been

NOTE:  I first published this account in 2008, on another one of my blogs:  http://gracewithsalt.wordpress.com/ .  It is still available on that site, via GOOGLE under the search term “My Jewish Heart”.  Currently the reference is 7 down on the 1st GOOGLE page with those search words. 

A repeat of this entry was precipitated by current events, our U. S. president’s policies, and a purchase I made recently at an antiques mall in Waukesha WI:  a beautifully made sterling silver ring with a Star of David on it, and some Hebrew symbols—which I hope to research.

I have Star of David earrings, and a large Star of David pendant.  I also have (and wear most of the time) a smaller Star of David with the Christian Cross in the center of the Star—and a ring with colorful stones representing each of the 12 Tribes of Israel.

Several times I’ve been questioned by Jewish people about my Jewish jewelry.  When asked whether or not I’m Jewish, I always answer:  “I’m a Christian with a Jewish heart.”  On each occasion, this answer has been greeted with a spirit of friendship.  One Jewish woman, a nurse at the hospital where Joe and I spent many days and nights in 2010 and 2011, replied:  “Oh!  I love you!”

As an ambassodor for Christ I love sharing that the Jews are God’s chosen people, and that Israel is His chosen nation!  Since much of Scripture (Old and New Testament alike) proclaims this truth, it’s shameful and totally reprehensible that so many churches have discarded God’s unfailing truth for the un-Biblical notion that the Church is a “new Israel”. 

When I hear of Replacement Theology I always wonder, “What Bible are these people reading?”  Certainly not the precious Holy Bible which I hold in my hands!  MLB

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Where can I begin to thank our Lord?

Where can I begin to thank our Lord?  I have nothing but thanksgiving:  for God, and whom He is; for salvation, and the promise of eternal life; for more blessings on earth than I can begin to count—a happy childhood, ongoing cultural opportunities, a precious marriage of almost 59 years, a large and loving family, friends, a sweet dog, fresh air, the beauties of nature, a pleasant and comfortable home, food to eat, clothes to wear, a bed, a plethora of books, and an abundance of creative hobbies.

Where can I begin?  Perhaps with that huge blessing which is not listed above, yet one for which I thank God every single day:  FREEDOM.  With all that is wrong in America, we are still free.  We can publish our views around the world, via the internet—without censorship—at least for now.  We can choose our children’s education.  We can worship in public.  We can read our Bibles and pray in coffee houses and bistros, without fear—at least for now.  We are still free!

I read a lot of historical novels and documentary non-fiction on the subject of Irish history.  Actually I know Irish history nearly as well as I know that of my own country!  As I read, I think over and over:  Lord thank you that, with God’s enabling, my ancestors (many of Scottish and Irish descent) were a part of our American Revolution.  The tenacity of the Irish people, like that of our early Americans, stirs my heart profoundly!  

I thank God that, throughout history, that there have been countless heroes who sacrificed everything they had for the cause of freedom!  And of all those heroes, no other people on earth loom larger in their quest for freedom than God’s chosen people—the Jews.  I’m thankful for American history, Irish history, and for the Jewish people and the nation of Israel.  

Meanwhile although Christians everywhere have inner, spiritual freedom in Jesus Christ, much of the world is still in physical bondage.  I praise the Lord Jesus for His promise to return, and reign on earth as King of kings and Lord of lords.  Someday, hopefully soon, the entire world will be free! 

“Yea, many people and strong nations will come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem, and to pray before the Lord.”  Zechariah 8:22 

Margaret L. Been, ©2011

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What has Israel displayed to the world?

 

What has Israel displayed to the world?  Israel has irrevokably shown the world that Jehovah God is a God of peace, a God of love—the one and only Lord of all creation.  Israel has displayed to the world that life is valuable.  We are made in God’s image.  Human life, yes EVERY INDIVIDUAL PERSON, is infinitely priceless and precious!

Welcome home, Gilad Shalit!  Many people I know are praying for your recovery.  We love you.  We love your nation!

Margaret L. Been, ©2011

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Never Forget!

“And I will bless them that bless you, and curse him that curses you, and in you shall all the families of the earth be blessed.”  Genesis 12:3

“Which covenant He made with Abraham, and his oath unto Isaac, and confirmed the same unto Jacob for a law, and to Israel for an everlasting covenant.”                        Psalm 105: 9-10 

On September 29, 1938 leaders of Great Britain, France, Germany, and Italy met at Munich to decide the fate of the Sudetenland, a part of Czechoslovakia made up mostly of ethnic Germans.  Adolph Hitler had alleged that Czechs in that area were mistreating the Germans, and Hitler wanted to annex the territory for Germany.

Already, the Nazi war machine had grown to ominous proportions and Austria had gone under Hitler’s boot.  Czech president, Edvard Benes appealed to Britain and France for help in protecting his little country against the advance of a tyrant so obviously bent on world conquest.

Hitler, meanwhile, was busy deceiving the world into thinking that this little part of Czechoslovakia was all he wanted.  Those who favored siding with the Czechs against Germany were labeled “war mongers”.   Our president, Franklin D. Roosevelt, was not present at the Munich conference–but sent repeated pleas for Germany and Czechoslovakia to “negotiote”.

Need we say, “the rest is history”?  On September 30, 1938, headlines in the New York Times read as follows:  “Four Powers Reach a Peaceable Agreement”, “Germans to Enter Sudetenland Tomorrow and Will Complete Occupation in Ten Days”, “Nazi Demands Met”.

After the Munich Conference, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlin returned to London waving the Munich Agreement for all to see, and boasting:  “A British Prime Minister has achieved peace in our time . . . . peace with honor.”

Those ironic words were followed by events we can never forget: 

November 8, 1938–“Krystalnacht” (“night of broken glass”) when Hitler’s anti-Semitic posturing turned into the methodical destruction of businesses owned by German Jews. 

March 15, 1939–The remains of Czechoslovakia caved in under Hitler’s aggression.

September 1, 1939–Hitler launched World War II, by attacking Poland and thereby bringing Britain and her European allies into the conflict.

December 7, 1941–Japanese war planes attacked U. S. Naval Base at Pearl Harbor.

December 8, 1941–U. S. declared war on Japan.

December 11, 1941–Germany and Italy declared war on U. S.

Why don’t we learn from history?  Again and again, we hear the word “negotiate”.  How many of our presidents have aped Prime Minister Neville Chamberlin by thinking they are achieving “peace in our time, peace with honor”?

Negotiations with dictators who are bent on world power can only spell compromise and ultimate devastation.  Negotiations in 1938 resulted in the closest thing to Armageddon the world has ever experienced. 

Negotiations in 1938 also resulted in the torture and extermination of millions of God’s chosen people, the Jews.

Today Germany and Japan are friendly nations, purposing to never again repeat their past.  But other aggressive, diabolical regimes have risen up in the wake of the World War II tyrants–regimes with leaders who, like Adolph Hitler, are committed to wiping the Jews off the face of the earth forever.

Of course this will not happen.  God is faithful, and He will preserve His people and His nation.  There will be a genuine Armageddon, and our Lord will return to earth to reign. 

When the Lord returns, we will have “peace with honor”!  Meanwhile, any “negotiations” which threaten, harm, or in any way undermine the nation of Israel can only result in disaster!

“For you are a holy people unto the Lord your God:  the Lord your God hath chosen you to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth.”  Deuteronomy 7:6

Margaret L. Been–All Rights Reserved 

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