2.8.25 ~ Throwing Stones, and their Ripple Effect

Good morning!

Shabbat shalom!

Commercial: Last night's zoom call: Was it bitter waters or bitterness in me that kept me from enjoying God's provision? Or, "My daily bread will meet my needs according to my hunger." 

The Torah portion this week starts a ripple effect throughout the camp. Let me explain using an activity that we have all done or seen some time in our lives.

Have you ever complained, complaining how the others won’t listen to you, how they won’t trust you, how they won’t assign you any of the vital tasks and how they don’t invite you to the important meetings? Yeppers, me too! Have you ever wished that someone would intervene on your behalf to resolve this feeling of isolation? Yeppers, me too!

If you've ever been to a pond on a calm day, the water reflects the scenery all around. And, if the pond or still body of water has any rocks or pebbles around it, most likely you have thrown a stone or fifty in the water :-). Skipping rocks is soooo much fun :-)

If, while the pond is still, you toss a rock into the pond, you'll notice that it creates a ripple effect. The larger the rock, the larger the ripple. As the ripples expand outward, growing larger and larger, you'll notice that it's impossible to stop their outward movement. You can stick your finger or hand in the water, that won't stop them. You can put another rock in the water and that won't stop them. Once the ripple starts, they can't be stopped...oh yes, you can counter the ripples, but it won't stop the original ripple...it's destined to make it completely to the shoreline.

Just as you cannot stop the ripple effect, so too it is once a word leaves our mouths...it creates a ripple effect in the atmosphere that goes out into eternity...never stopping. I will ripple throughout your whole family, your whole team, your whole fellowship, your whole office and too often, it will ripple in your mind forever.

The ripple can't be controlled. The only thing I can do is to control what kind of stone I throw into the water; that will determine the size of the ripple and what kind I produce.

The children of God are starting to practice murmuring, griping, complaining, misappropriating blame...(Ex. 14:11,12; 15:14; 16:2; 17:3...). The stones have been thrown. The ripples created and they can't be stopped.

Today, on this beautiful Shabbat, we have the opportunity to cast the first stone (figuratively speaking). Is it a stone of positivity? Is it a stone of encouragement? Is it a stone of support, contribution, and productivity? Or is it a stone of criticism and complaint? Is it a stone of doubt or dismissiveness or attraction? What is beautiful about the ripple you choose to make is that you will always get the effect of the stone that you throw. And, what's even more incredible is the effect of the ripple that spreads farther and wider than you even intended or imagined.

The stone of your comment or behavior, doesn't just affect the area in which the stone entered the pond. It ripples throughout the rest of the pond. The rest of your team, maybe the rest of your family or your fellowship or your community.

On this Sabbath of the Song of Moses, let’s be mindful of the influence that each of us have with our tongues and actions, which originate from our heart (Matt. 12:34; Deut. 28:45-47; Prov. 4:23). Keep in mind that every room you walk into, every zoom meeting, every conversation that you engage in, every meeting, every meal you sit down to with family or friends...all of your comments, your reactions and contributions are like that stone thrown into the pond.

The words and actions you display on this shabbat and every day will ripple through the minds and emotions of all those around you and beyond. So actively throw positive, hopeful, encouraging and inspiring stones into every pod that you come into contact with today! Can you do that? If you do throw stones, and we all do, just imagine the positive ripple effect that we can create out there today. Plan for it in all the meetings, all the conversations, all the environments where you will toss out positive stones of hope, optimism, reassurance, confidence, comfort, and support. Let’s make a big positive impact today.

Shabbat shalom!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

3.8.25

Good morning! Have you ever considered the meaning of the 153 fish that were caught by Yeshua's disciples in John 21:4-12? You remember the story, right? It's the story many of us have experienced too often in our journey...we've been 'fishing' all night long and NOTHING. Then, with a listening ear, we grab our nets one more time, and with a mighty heave we throw the net in a different direction over the boat, and...my oh my, the boat's about to sink because there are so many fish in the net; yet the nets don't break. What a story! What a miracle! What 'fish finding vision Yeshua had'! What obedience; especially after doing it for so long 'my way'. What an enigma that Yeshua already had fish cooking on the shore when the boys arrived! What wisdom he displayed in His instructions to the boys! Am I listening, acting, and throwing in the right direction? Are my nets empty (Matt. 4:19)? Have you ever felt like you're outside the camp, isolate...
Read more

3.20.25

Good morning! Yesterday, we learned some essential truths about how to 'be still and know that He is God (Psa. 46:10). Today, I want to ask you a different question based on life's ability to throw a wide variety of circumstances at us!  One of the most difficult situations is when we are threatened by someone or some circumstance. Have you ever been threatened?  Oh, maybe no one came up to you with a gun, or shouted at you with malice, or told you that you were going to be tortured or punished.  Maybe all the threat you ever had was the innuendo of rejection, or the social snub or something much less violent than jail time.  But my guess is that if you are traveling the road with Yeshua, living a Torah lifestyle, you know what it means to be threatened. Every time the circumstances of your life look as though they are about to cave in, you are threatened.  It might not be a threat from a physical enemy, then again...but we all know that in one form or another t...
Read more

3.22.25

Good morning! Shabbat shalom! Although the portion of Vayakhel/and he assembled is almost entirely focused on the construction of the tabernacle, it begins by reminding the children of Israel that no work may be done on the Sabbath (Ex. 35:2,3). Why does it begin here rather than jumping right into how to construct the Tabernacle? Enquiring minds want to know :-) By placing the topic of the Sabbath against the construction of the Tabernacle it's God's way of defining the boundaries of the Sabbath...that even the most intimate work for the Lord needs to be put aside for His 'Date Day'. However, upon further investigation, there’s another layer to understand that connects us back to the golden calf (Ex. 32). As we know, while Moses was up on the mount getting the instructions from God the children of Israel decided to make an object that would replace Moses, their deliverer; The object, later known as the golden calf, originally intended as a 'necessary' means to ...
Read more