Blow the Shofar

 


I once read a book titled Blow the Shofar, or it had that phrase in the title I think. There was no shofar. I waited. I can’t remember what it was about, but I seem to have a vague notion that it was some kind of weird romance story maybe. 

Anyway. I have a shofar now. A dear friend gifted it to me and at first I could hardly blow it, and for a moment there I panicked that whatever skill you have to have to whistle was needed for this. I cannot whistle. Lately though I have discovered that it is less blowing and more just, well, spitting. This, I can do. 

Just about once a night I have stepped out into my backyard and blown my shofar. My husband usually giggles and steps out on the front porch. Pray for my neighbors. We also have a mess of chickens and a duck, but we live in an unincorporated part of a sort-of country county so, well, yeah pray for them to get good rest I guess. 

I have this sense sometimes, that I just need to blow it. I have reached the point of some situations in my life when words are no longer helping, or perhaps are themselves the problem. Intuitively this random sort of instrument thing has become… something more. 

The friend that gave it to me told me that it was for fighting spiritual battles and about how she had met these women that do this, I guess like some kind of holy ‘Avengers’ team, I mean all bets are off when I retire in four years so it is very likely I may join them. And I may need to know how to blow a shofar, I guess. 

So yeah, this post was just about me blowing my shofar and unlike that silly book I read, there was a whole lotta just that. I told a friend, who lives somewhat close, that she should step outside and see if she could hear this weird horn thing. She laughed and me and informed me that she would not be doing that. 

We just got back from a vacation on the beach and at one point the sun was out in full force and was making a straight reflection right at me. I stood on the stairs leading up to the dock that would take us back to our condo and I blew. Here’s the thing, I don’t know yet what happens when it gets blown, but something does. That I can feel in the marrow of my soul. 


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Darkness deep

I never knew that being deep could be a bad thing. I assumed that the opposite- being shallow- was the bad thing.  But then again, I suppose that hell is quite deep down somewhere in this realm or some other. And in the deep it can be very dark. Our former pastor is starting a bible study on Job and encouraged us to read through it.    So I dutifully started and there I found it: Job 12:22 ‘He reveals the deep things of darkness and brings utter darkness into the light.’ This is a verse I could just sit in for like five years. I tend to tunnel down into things, thinking that is where the gold is, but is it possible it is just where the dark is? I have this theory that God is so massive and complex that our whole stinking lives can be spent just exploring him. My hope is this space is my offshoot of thoughts from my own exploration of that. I’m not sure I can promise to be regular with posting, but I set up a link to subscribe which should be on left side (or in a drop dow...
Read more

Gone through

I realize that probably half of my posts are apologizing for having abandoned this poor blog. This time it was from a medical thing that just dragged and dragged. I finally came through it. But. Man was it a struggle. I won’t put a lot of details cause quite frankly it was not pleasant and required I spend a lot of time in the bathroom. No one wants to read that crap. Literally.  Including, me. But. When you are in something, in the thick of it and it’s like you are suddenly in ‘Honey a Shrunk the Kids’ and everything is a forrest to you even though in actuality it’s just a blade of grass, well, all you can do really is go through it. It helps if some kind souls who have some bit of understanding to your situation come alongside you. I am blessed on that score and don’t deserve the friends and family that I have.  If you are just now hearing of this - I’m sorry. At some point I kind of just shut down trying to reach out and keep folks informed and there was not a clear line re...
Read more

The women who came before

She stares at me, fiercely, every day at work.  She ran the War Office of Tennessee.  Truth be told, she was a ‘Rosie the Riveter’ but. She stayed. Her best friend and her decided now that They had made it into the workforce, they weren’t going home. I stare at that tiny woman with a BOSS face, And I am steeled for my next meeting. She was my grandmother. She was a professor at UT and now retired. No. Scratch that. She just died. And I’m still painfully reminded Because I honestly, weirdly, thought she would live forever. Her scientist background convinced me that she would tick Right past the nineties and live well into the hundreds.  So many ‘remedies’ for this and that, God love her, it mostly worked. I want to live to 90-something. She was my friend, and I miss her already. She was mother, she is sister, she is daughter, she is friend. She flies. She fights. She is fierce. And because she flew the heights  And fought the fights And fiercely did what used to only ...
Read more