A Quiet Day - A Holy God

Yom Kippur - The Day of Atonement

The Judgement Day.

Here is Israel Yom Kippur is a very quiet day. It is a very Holy day.
Israel as a nation, all Jews are repenting of their sins. It is a day filled with prayers and fasting.
The atmosphere reminds us clearly God is Holy and our sins stand in the way of that.

I've been thinking of it lately, our protestant Christian churches love to celebrate our closeness and the love of God.  It is a good thing. Christ died that we CAN be with Him.  We have a hope of life eternal. We have the promise of new life, and the Holy Spirit dwelling within us.

But I wonder if we can get too comfortable with it? If we can emphasis feeling close to God in so great a way that we neglect to remember that God is Holy. If we emphasis God's grace and love in such a way that neglects to identify and call out sin and that it has no place with a Holy God?

So how can I balance the tensions between Holy and Loving? How can we live in celebration and not forget the weightiness of our transgressions?  Can the picture of God as our Father help? A father who loves us, but not to forget a father that holds all authority. In working that out, we have the confidence of a father's unconditional love and the  motivation of father who has ultimate power.  And driven by the knowledge of God's holiness - we are driven to strive to be holy as He is.

It's life in a tension. But God has not left us with only remembering a Holy God - less than a week from today will be Sukkot - feast of tabernacles, a 8-day celebration of God dwelling with his people.  It's a beautiful tension.

Nest: day 28-35

The bird kept on growing. .. Then one day it just wasn't there anymore.

Still looking a little fuzzy

watching me

hanging out beside the nest...

empty nest

A Wander in the Garden

Sunday was a relaxing day - took some time to try to capture a glimpse of the beauty the is there in this season. 

The grape vines are full of promise!

Old pomegranates still hanging on. Just shells, emptied out by the birds.

New buds coming in

And lots of varieties of flowers in bloom!

A small lizard playing peek a boo on the stairs...

Aiming for the sunshine! 

Nest: Days 24-27

Day 24 - Eyes are definitely open, starting to get little feathers

Day 25 -  little more feathers, starting to notice when I am around

Day 26 - it keeps growing! it looks a little funny when it tries to puff itself up when I come to look at him, even tries to peck at the window sometimes

Day 27 - much more independent, I didn't see the mom at the nest last night. Mom does come by to feed. Also it is starting to get some color in it's feathers

Nest: day 23

Heard some chirping from him yesterday, looks like sleeping and growing ate it's main activities.

Nest: day 22

The bird's eyes were open a little and you can start to see the feathers growing on its wings

Nest: day 21

It had its eyes open just after the father bird left.
Apparently pigeons take turn sitting on their nests.  The mother has learned I'm not really a threat and won't f do anything when I come near. Maybe puff up and attack the window bit never leave.  The father... flies way if I get close.