{"id":2284,"date":"2014-09-28T19:08:56","date_gmt":"2014-09-28T19:08:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/?p=2284"},"modified":"2014-09-28T19:08:56","modified_gmt":"2014-09-28T19:08:56","slug":"to-all-the-grown-up-children-of-abba","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/to-all-the-grown-up-children-of-abba\/","title":{"rendered":"To All the Grown-up Children of Abba"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Elisabeth Hinze
\n\"Mahane<\/a>
\nI\u2019ve never been your outdoorsy, roughing-it kind of girl. See, I\u2019m more of a fan of the modern technology that God\u2019s provided so thoughtfully to help us navigate everyday life. Take air conditioner, for example. Or Wi-Fi. Hot running water on demand. Beds. Ice-cream. Oh, I\u2019ve tried. Honestly. But after a number of failed roughing-it weekends sleeping under the stars and cooking on an open fire I\u2019ve decided to just fess up. Nature is beautiful, glorious, breathtaking – to look at. But running, biking, sleeping, bathing or cooking in it is never going to make my list of favourite pastimes. A hot bath on a cold night is. So is curling up on the couch with hot chocolate and a good book on a rainy afternoon. And recently, my list of favourite pastimes got a new addition: people-watching in Jerusalem.<\/p>\n

Because, let\u2019s be honest, there\u2019s probably no better place for it in the world. See, in Jerusalem, people-watching is not an activity or a pastime. It\u2019s an affair. In no other city will you find such an intense concentration of vibrant humanity, coexisting in varying degrees of peace on a tiny spot of earth where God decided to put His name. All that\u2019s required of you is to pick a shady spot, make yourself comfortable and watch\u2026<\/p>\n

There are the cobbled streets of the Jewish Quarter in the Old City teeming with Yeshiva students, fragments of song or heated debate trailing in their wake. Young mothers surrounded by little ones and laughter huddled together in clusters of sunshine on Hurva Square. There\u2019s the shuk (open air market), crowded with smells and textures and people. And the Kotel (Western Wall), where soldiers dance in exuberant circles as Shabbat falls over the white walls of Jerusalem. <\/p>\n

But people-watching it\u2019s a pastime that requires a dedicated venue or a set timeframe. Not in Jerusalem anyway. It\u2019s something you can indulge in while waiting in line, doing your weekly shopping or on public transport. <\/p>\n

And it was there, on a bus to the other side of the city, that a little Israeli boy recently stole my heart. I looked up from my seat and there he was, hand tucked safely into his mommy\u2019s. All of about four years old, this serious little man observed those around him with a quiet curiosity as the family made their way to the seats across from mine. Wearing the black velvet kippa of the Orthodox and sporting the beginning of two sidelocks, which he twirled proudly around his fingers every now and then. Chubby legs still too short to bend over the bus seat. Dark eyes surrounded by impossibly long sooty lashes. I watched this beautiful little boy, peering out the window at Jerusalem flashing by. When, all of a sudden, his face crinkled into a massive yawn. And I uttered an instinctive motherly \u201cAwwwwwwwww.\u201d Which made me laugh at myself and ask Abba, \u201cDo You do that as well? Watch Your little children? Thinking of how beautiful You\u2019ve made them? And then go \u201cAwwwwww\u201d when they do something cute?\u201d The answer came immediately, \u201cWell, I often do that with My grown up children too.\u201d <\/p>\n

The idea of our Abba, looking at us, His grown up children, like that stays with me. Because it\u2019s an amazing thing to remember when we feel, well, less than precious (and by less than precious I mean fat, ugly, unloved, unlovable, forgotten or simply like a spectacular failure.) I found something that makes this picture even more precious. We read the Aaronic blessing, the blessing with which Abba told Aaron to bless the children of Israel, in Numbers 6:24-26, \u201cMay the Lord bless you and protect you; may the Lord shine His face to you and be gracious to you; may the Lord lift up His face to you and give you peace.\u201d <\/p>\n

It\u2019s an amazing blessing, of course. But here is an explanation from Hebrew4Christians that touched my heart: \u201cNotice that the phrase \u201cMay the Lord lift up His face to you\u201d provides a picture of God holding you up in His arms, as a delighted father might hold up his young child in joy. God \u201clifts up His face\u201d as He holds you up in divine joy.\u201d
\n(www.hebrew4christians.com\/Blessings\/Synagogue_Blessings\/Priestly_Blessing\/priestly_blessing.html) <\/p>\n

With that, shana tova (happy new year) precious grown up child of Abba over whom He rejoices in divine joy.<\/p>\n

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By Elisabeth Hinze I\u2019ve never been your outdoorsy, roughing-it kind of girl. See, I\u2019m more of a fan of the modern technology that God\u2019s provided so thoughtfully to help us navigate everyday life. Take air conditioner, for example. Or Wi-Fi. Hot running water on demand. Beds. Ice-cream. Oh, I\u2019ve tried. Honestly. But after a number more \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":988,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[75,625,632,631,125],"class_list":{"0":"post-2284","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-editorial","8":"tag-israel","9":"tag-israeli-news","10":"tag-israeli-culture","11":"tag-israeli-life","12":"tag-news-from-jerusalem","13":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2284","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2284"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2284\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2285,"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2284\/revisions\/2285"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/988"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}