Another Normal Week on God's Calendar

 I put my havdalah candle in the little tin the 24-hour candle came in, thinking I was so clever. It did work well - until tonight.

    I thought the wicks were still long enough for a couple of burnings, but obviously I am unaware of the physics of fire in a tin. The wicks nearest the edge of the tin went out first as the melting wax built up there and couldn't run off. Then the rest of the wicks quickly faded. It was too dark to read the blessings out of the siddur, so I grabbed the tin and burnt my fingers. I had to finish the blessings by the light of my cell phone, which was also almost finished at 4%.

    I sat looking at the cheeky little candle in a tin and thought to myself: What an unusual ending to Shabbat - and smiled.

    As I put together the weekly schedule for some friends and myself, I saw that it is another plain sailing week - the quiet before the storm of September, which contains one 3-day Shabbatot and one 2-day Shabbatot. 

    So this week we are still continuing to focus on repentance, as it is still the month of Elul. Slichot is added to the prayers every morning and in between that, we are all working on our own personal, individual teshuva as God is showing us the things we need to improve in ourselves.

    My teaching goes on unabated - it lessens considerably during the school holidays - and we still gather for Mincha every day. We do our ladies' Torah study, which consists of reading through and trying to understand the Jerusalem Talmud and Wayyiqra Rabbah. We also gather for Ma'ariv every evening to make up for the fact that we can't do Shacharit together every day anymore.

    I am so grateful for friends to pray with. I am so grateful for being able to pray the prayers of the House of Israel, the same ones that Yeshua prayed when He was on Earth. They are a refuge for me.

    I phoned my beloved grandson to pray about an hour ago. I am so grateful that he is still so happy to talk and pray together with me every evening.

    One of my students is away this week so I will be able to pray full Shacharit with a friend on Thursday.

    Even though we are having a quiet, normal week, it's no good getting too complacent. Every morning after Modah Ani, there is that little piece of paper that drops from heaven, containing the day's activities as planned On High. Believe me, it does not always agree with the schedule I have planned out in my diary! What a joy to serve the LORD! It is so exciting!

    My teshuva for previous years I was able to put on a list and tick them off. This year, the midot that God has so far revealed to me that need changing in my heart, defy description. I've written half a page on each of the three in my Elul book so far. How am I going to summarise them? I will do my best. They are so deep and so personal that they will stay inside my book this year and go up on the wall on my Yom Kippur List as in previous years.

    I miss my children so very much. I pray for them every day before I go to bed and when I wake up in the middle of the night as well, praying Psalms on their behalf. Not only my children, but all my family members - and friends too. So many people are facing challenges of increasingly overwhelming magnitudes that we should all be praying for each other constantly.

    I have been sleeping a lot on the last two Shabbats. I hope I will have enough energy next week to attend the online Shacharit service. But rest on Shabbat is good rest.

    Shavu'a Tov!