{"id":17448,"date":"2016-08-11T08:28:46","date_gmt":"2016-08-11T13:28:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bekahcubed.menterz.com\/blog\/?p=17448"},"modified":"2016-08-10T21:29:09","modified_gmt":"2016-08-11T02:29:09","slug":"thankful-thursday-abundance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/bekahcubed.menterz.com\/blog\/2016\/20160811-17448.htm","title":{"rendered":"Thankful Thursday: Abundance"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Thankful<\/a><\/p>\n

“Had God brought us out from Egypt
\nAnd not visited them with judgment
\nDayenu<\/em> – We should have been content”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So begins the Dayenu<\/em>, recited or sung at the annual Passover Seder.<\/p>\n

At the end of each stanza, we recite dayenu<\/em> – a word roughly translated “it would have sufficed” or “it would have been enough.” Martha Zimmerman, in her book Celebrate the Feasts<\/em> (which first introduced me to the Hagaddah) translates dayenu<\/em> as “We should have been content.”<\/p>\n

This week I celebrate abundance. I could have so much less and it would have sufficed. I could have so much less and been content. Yet God has given an abundance. And I am thankful.<\/p>\n

This week I’m thankful…<\/strong><\/p>\n

…for meals brought to my home<\/strong>
\nIF I only had the meals I’d been able to prepare and stash away in my freezer for when the baby came, dayenu<\/em>. Yet God has blessed me with a dozen more freezer meals from family and friends, and with hot meals arriving at my doorstep three days a week – even now, seven weeks after Louis was born.<\/p>\n

…for rain to water the newly planted grass<\/strong>
\nIf the grass had been planted and I’d had to water it, moving sprinklers every half an hour, dayenu<\/em>. Yet God blessed us with rain after two days of watering – and I’ve only had to water minimally since.<\/p>\n

…for a second chance for my tomato plants<\/strong>
\nHad I only gotten a couple good crops of tomatoes with only a couple dozen pints canned, dayenu<\/em>. Yet God sent rain that perked up my plants that had almost completely lost their leaves – and they’re flowering again.<\/p>\n

…for multiples of pumping supplies and baby sleepers<\/strong>
\nHad I only one set of pumping supplies and a couple baby sleepers, dayenu<\/em>. But God has blessed me with two sets of pumping supplies (through no act of my own), so I can relax after pumping without having to get the supplies cleaned. right. now. And God has blessed me (through the generosity of strangers) with a dozen baby sleepers, so I can wait days between loads of laundry (well, baby laundry, anyway :-P) <\/p>\n

Such an abundance. More than I ask or think. But all these gifts are nothing compared to the ultimate abundant gift. <\/p>\n

I can’t say it better than the Dayenu<\/em> already has:<\/p>\n

“Had God brought us into Israel
\nAnd not sent the Promised Messiah
\nDayenu<\/em> \u2014 We should have been content<\/p>\n

Had God sent the Promised Messiah
\nBut not grafted us into Israel
\n Dayenu<\/em> \u2014 We should have been content<\/p>\n

Had God grafted us into Israel
\nBut not made us full heirs with Christ
\nDayenu<\/em> \u2014 We should have been content<\/p>\n

But praise be to God
\nHe has showered blessings on us,
\n More than we can count:
\nGod brought us out of Egypt
\nAnd visited judgment upon the Egyptians,
\nCast down their idols
\nAnd slew their first born,
\nGave us their riches
\nAnd parted the seas for us,
\nLet us walk the dry sea bed
\nAnd drowned our pursuers,
\nKept us alive forty years in the wilderness
\nAnd fed us with manna,
\nGave us the Sabbath rest
\nAnd led us to the foot of Mount Sinai
\nAnd there taught us Torah
\nAnd brought us into Israel
\nAnd there built the Temple.
\nHe has sent His Promised Messiah
\nWho has atoned for all our sins.
\nHe has grafted us into Israel and made us full heirs with Christ.”<\/p>\n

~ Rebekah Menter’s Dayenu<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Had God brought us out from Egypt And not visited them with judgment Dayenu – We should have been content” So begins the Dayenu, recited or sung at the annual Passover Seder. At the end of each stanza, we recite dayenu – a word roughly translated “it would have sufficed” or “it would have been … Read more Thankful Thursday: Abundance<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[42],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/bekahcubed.menterz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17448"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/bekahcubed.menterz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/bekahcubed.menterz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/bekahcubed.menterz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/bekahcubed.menterz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17448"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/bekahcubed.menterz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17448\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17449,"href":"http:\/\/bekahcubed.menterz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17448\/revisions\/17449"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/bekahcubed.menterz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17448"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/bekahcubed.menterz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17448"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/bekahcubed.menterz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17448"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}