Showing posts with label Saving. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Saving. Show all posts
March 17, 2022
September 6, 2021
On a Wink and a Prayer
January 15, 2020
G-d Hears Your Prayers
Even if a sharp sword rests upon a person's neck, he should not refrain from praying for mercy.
One can still hope for mercy from the Almighty even at death's door.
This is truly beautiful and uplifting--we can approach G-d anytime, and as long as we are alive, there is always hope.
The saving from G-d is like "the blink of an eye." ;-)
(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
January 2, 2018
Something Better In Store For You
My first reaction was to be disappointed, upset, angry, and question why.
But then I remembered something I heard the other day:
"If something doesn't work out then it's because something even better is coming."
Wow, that's powerful!
Think about it...
What do we mortal human beings really know?
We think something is right for us--but only G-d really knows what the future will bring.
Perhaps with this or that thing that we think we so want, instead of joy and fulfillment, it's really just heartache or disaster in the waiting.
My father used to say and was so right about it:
"Better to cry now then to cry later."
G-d loves us and has our best interests at heart--He saves us and has something better in store for us.
My father also taught me:
"What can any man do to us when we have faith in G-d."
And he really lived that way!
He never worried about what any person or event could do to him--faith always protected him and even when he was sick and was dying, and I asked how he was, he told me:
"I have no pain."
And I could see truly with his deep faith in the Almighty, he really did not feel any pain--it was amazing and miraculous!
Like my dear father, when I remember that G-d has the whole world in Hands, and He watches over us then my heart is uplifted and all I want to do is sing His praises, and that is what I will do. ;-)
(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
December 18, 2017
Shower Us With Peace
A peace of mind, spirit, and body.
A peace that permeates every aspect of our being and knows no limits to time and space.
May You grant us a complete saving and healing.
As threats loom large on the horizon, we look to the Heavens to ask for your merciful saving grace.
Enemies rise against us, and only you can reach down and lift us up.
We stand in your presence, naked and humbled.
As the winds blow and clouds gather, only you can protect and save.
While some men look arrogantly at their own strength and smarts, these are nothing to the Master of the Universe.
G-d uproots the wicked and plants his faithful children in their stead.
Peace is the ultimate blessing, and only G-d can grant it. ;-)
(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
December 11, 2017
The Eyes Give It Away
Even for the best poker-faced folks out there--the eyes are the conduit to the soul.
Here's how it works:
- When someone is plotting to do you harm, they avoid looking you in the eye.
Why?
They are afraid, they are going to give themselves and their evil intentions away.
And so they attempt to hide their evil intentions behind closed eyelids, turned heads, and avoided gazes.
They think by avoiding eye contact, you won't be able to read them--seeing into their eyes and their malevolent thinking and planning.
Probably also even the worst of them may actually feel a little guilty (somewhere in there is a soul even if it's mucked up in dirt, corruption, and absolute sin).
- Yet the opposite is true when someone is executing their evil plans--attacking you and wanting to severely hurt you or worse.
Then, they look you straight in the face and in the eyes.
They are staring intently and honing in for the kill.
And in their wide open eyes, rage and evil burns, as they raise their voice and their clenched fists.
Seeking to execute their plots, their eyes come at you, tracking you, targeting you, and attempting to shoot/hit you first and hard.
When evil is there--the eyes are the giveaway--and the person's soul burns dark and deep.
But remember, G-d--the King of Kings--is forever light and He will chase the darkness away.
The L-rd executes darkness.
The L-rd will blind the haughty.
The L-rd will render a mighty justice.
The L-rd will save his faithful. ;-)
(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
September 30, 2013
Saving Iraq's Jewish Scrolls
What a beautiful job by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).
In Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003, our Special Forces looking for WMD instead discoverd thousands of ancient Jewish texts.
The texts dating from 1540 to 1970 taken from the Iraqi Jewish Community were sitting defiled in the basement of Saddam Hussein's Intelligence HQS molding and decomposing under 4 feet of water.
The U.S. military and NARA rescued these texts and have painstakingly restored and preserved them through freezing, categorizing, condition assessment, stabilization, mold remediation, mending pages, washing, binding, and more.
Pictures of the collection of texts from Iraq before and after preservation can be found here.
The collection includes:
- A Hebrew Bible from 1568
- A Babylonian Talmud from 1793
- A Zohar/Kabbalah from 1815
- A Haggadah from 1902
- 48 Torah scroll fragments
- And much more.
On October 11, NARA will unveil an exhibit in Washington, DC featuring 24 of the recovered items and the preservation effort.
Hopefully, the collection of Jewish religious texts will ultimately be returned to the Jewish community from which it came, so that it can be held dear and sacred once again, and used properly in religious worship and never again held hostage or profaned.
Thank you so much to both the Department of Defense and to the National Archives for saving and preserving these ancient, sacred Jewish religious texts.
You did a beautiful mitzvah! ;-)
May 31, 2009
From Pigging Out to Piggybanking
Recently there was some media interest in the government system of funding allocation, which essentially rests on one principle: “Use it or lose it.” Unlike in the private sector, where unused funds may be reserved for future use, money that is not spent in a given appropriation year is simply returned, for the most part.
In our own personal financial worlds, in fact, it is a primary lesson that we should not spend every dollar we earn. Rather, any financial adviser will tell you that money must be managed over many years, including saving money for the proverbial “rainy day” (the recent financial meltdown and recovery act not withstanding).
In business as well as in our personal lives, we are taught to do three things with our money:
· Spend some—for business operating expenses or living expenses in our personal lives.
· Save some—for unexpected needs like when a economic recession negatively impacts business cash flow or in our personal lives when a job is lost and we need savings to tide us over; or the saving could be for opportunities like to accumulate funds to get into a new business or to save up for a deposit on a home.
· Invest some—for longer-term needs like research and development, potential business acquisitions, and so forth or in our personal lives for college education, weddings, retirement and more.
My question is why in government is there not an option #2 or #3—to save or invest funds for the future, like we have in our personal lives and in business? Why can’t agencies and lawmakers plan longer-term and manage funds strategically instead of tactically—beyond the current year here and now?
The Clinger-Cohen Act of 1996 called for the development and maintenance of an IT architecture, since interpreted more broadly as the mandate for enterprise architecture, where we plan and govern investments strategically (i.e. no longer based on short-term gut, intuition, politics, or subjective management whim).
Managing for enterprise architecture necessitates that we manage business and IT investments with the ability to spend, save, or invest as necessitated by agency mission and vision, customer requirements, and the overall investment climate (i.e. the return on spending versus the return on saving or longer-term investment).
Managing money by driving an end of year spend-down seems to negate the basic principles of finance and investing that we are taught from grade school and that we use in business and our personal lives.
By changing the government budget process to allow for spending, saving, and investing, we will open up more choices to our leaders and hold them responsible and accountable for the strategic long-term success of our vital mission.
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