Bored with nothing to do, I started a new adventure!

This week I have been trying to stay optimistic. It seems as though my respiratory muscles have weakened, and I am finding it harder and harder to live without being hooked up to my ventilator...and since my ventilator is not portable, I am confined to my bed for most hours of the day. So, I have tried to find things to do with my time, which do not require me to move.

I was watching far too much YouTube, when a thought floated across my mind: learn Hebrew. I have wanted to learn Hebrew for a very long time, but I have always had other things which occupied my attention. So, this week, I started watching YouTube videos on learning the Hebrew alephbet. Surprisingly, it was challenging and yet so much fun! I soon forgot about the mask covering my face forcing air into my lungs and became immersed in another world.

In my efforts to learn the Hebrew letters, I found an amazing Rabbi who discusses the deeper meaning of the Hebrew letters. For example, aleph is the first letter in Hebrew, mem is the middle letter and tav is the last letter. The Rabbi reasoned in order to know truth, one must know the beginning, middle and end of a matter...and that is how "truth" is spelled in Hebrew using the first, middle and last letters of the alephbet (aleph-mem-tav). The Rabbi has a couple hours of in-depth videos discussing how words are written in Hebrew and the meanings behind each letter. It is so fascinating to learn there is so much hidden in the Torah Hebrew that you miss if you read it in another language. For example, in Genesis 1:1, the Hebrew reading is: "In the beginning, God aleph-tav the heavens and the earth". This makes little sense in English until you have the knowledge that the aleph is the first letter and tav is the last letter in Hebrew, and God uses the Hebrew letters (from the aleph to the tav) to create everything in the universe! God uses Hebrew to speak things into creation! "And God said, Let there be light, and there was light" (Genesis 1:3). "And God said, Let there be an expansion in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters" (Genesis 1:6). "And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together...."

It is beyond my comprehension to ponder how God can use words to create and destroy the entire universe. But, now I have a much deeper understanding of the passage in Hebrews 4:12, "For the word of God is alive and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is able to discern the thoughts and intents of the heart." For indeed, God's words have the incredible power to do anything He wishes. How will you use the words which proceed out of your mouth this week? What will you create and what will be destroyed?