This is the day of my conversion and this is the teaching I will be giving at services this evening:
At this time in my life, what truly touches me, and I find most meaningful in my portion tonight, is in Exodus 18:8:
“Moses then recounted to his father-in-law everything that the Lord had done to Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel’s sake, all the hardships that had befallen them on the way, and how the Lord had delivered them.”
In the same fashion, I am now recounting all that God has done for my sake, my hardships along the way, and how God has delivered me from being “a stranger in a foreign land.”
What I have learned and want to share with you is my joy in choosing to be Jewish. Somewhere along my journey I discovered that we all come from the same Source -- “God.”
I truly believe we must each be on the journey of our own choosing back to God. I’ve also wandered a little more than forty years to get here and have learned that following others’ beliefs didn’t get me here. It was when I began to take it in to myself and have it come from within that these became my beliefs and are now part of me. I’ve learned that my journey is now, and not “some day” as I had it in my mind.
You see, I had it that I would practice the faith of my choice “some day,” when my aunts were gone and couldn’t get upset with me. I love my aunts dearly, yet it looks as if they are all going to live to be in their nineties, as grandma did, and I’m glad for them. I now have come to the realization that I can’t wait any longer! Being Jewish is the most major choice I have made by myself, for myself. It really is a personal choice -- and it fulfills my spiritual desires.
I’m sitting here in a St. Louis Bread Company café, writing this -- watching the rain pouring down. And in this very moment God is creeping into my thoughts. God instructs me to watch the rain ever so closely. It’s running off of the concrete street, only to land on the earth, and be soaked up by the land. God reminds me to be of the earth and of God’s land “Israel” and to soak up the rain, God’s rain that nurtures us all. God further mentions not to be as the concrete (those material things of life) for they are only surface features, and will erode in time. Now, as I sit a little longer, a lady in her sixty’s comes up to take my tray from me, and wishes me well with her smile of loving warmth. I return to her the same wish. In that moment -- I know --that on The Grander Scale (that I don’t always look from), we are all related to one God. In the next moment I look around the room and know in my heart that we are all also a part of One Divine Plan. What have I learned? Right now -- although I am sitting in the middle of the Bread Company on a rainy Tuesday, during the noonday rush -- in this moment, I feel very spiritual, filled with God’s love. God’s presence is everywhere, without and within.
Who have been my teachers and who are they now? All of you who have ever laughed with me, cried with me, pondered about God and life with me, argued with me, and loved with me. Each of you continues to help weave the tapestry of my life I share with the Universe. You ARE the Beautiful Golden Threads. You are the many lifeboats God has sent my way. Now, at this time in my life I’m no longer asking when I’m going to get there because I know I am there – NOW - when I am here. God whispered this to me once before, but it bears repeating. I’ll say it slowly and hope it doesn’t sound redundant. The most important blessing that I have been able to acknowledge thus far -- is to be able to see my blessings as they unfold, moment by moment, in the possibilities God sends my way; and to enjoy them NOW. Being present to everything in my life right now is truly IT’S OWN blessing. It’s nothing short of A Miracle - God’s Miracle. Everything we do now, in the moment, even the hardships, bring us one more step back to God and now I have learned how to get there.
I know whatever happens in life, God will deliver me, as God has delivered me this day, to my chosen faith. This is what I have learned and these are my words of thanks to ALL of you who have shared, and hopefully, will continue to share in my journey. Thank you.
