When I read this it remined me how often I felt I wasn't doing good enough as a JW and how I wish such a peaceful message was what the sheep shared.
You know Jesus was Jewish while on the earth and now and again I look into thier beliefs.
I could never abandon Our Savior and Lord Christ Jesus,But Often I Like The teachings I Find.
The Site I Got This From Is A Bit Too Political For me...But they have a daily wisdom section...it has kind of replaced my daily text......this one is one of my favorites so far.
Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai asked his disciples, 'Which is the way to which a person should cling?' Rabbi Eliezer said, 'A benevolent eye.'
Ethics of the Fathers (2:13)
http://www.jewishworldreview.com --Consciously or unconsciously, we see that which we want to see.
The great Chassidic master, Rebbe Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev, once encountered a man who was eating on the fast day of Tishah B'Av. "You have certainly forgotten that today is Tishah B'Av," he said.
"No," the man said. "I know it is Tishah B'Av."
"Ah! Then your doctor forbids you to fast," Rebbe Levi Yitzchak said.
"I am in excellent health," the man answered.
This is vitally important in parenting. Children may become bad if they sense we think they are bad. In Positive Parenting, I note that we must learn to discipline children without making them feel bad.
We often catch our children doing something wrong and reprimand them. We must also "catch them" doing things that are right, at least three times a day, and praise them for it.
A wise person will develops his "benevolent eye."
When Rabbi Eliezer fell ill, his disciples visited him. They variously praised his teachings as being superior to the rain, to the sun, and to parents. Rabbi Eliezer did not react. Then Rabbi Akiva spoke up. "Suffering is precious," he said. R' Eliezer then said, "Help me sit so that I can understand what my child Akiva said" (Talmud, Sanhedrin 101a).
Looking back and saying, "See what I have accomplished" is vanity. Looking ahead and saying, "With the skills G-d has given me I hope to accomplish" is self-esteem.
Rabbi Eliezer dismissed the comments of his disciples who praised his teachings of the past. Knowing he was terminally ill, he had no hope of teaching again. Rabbi Akiva said, "You are required to do only what you can at any one moment. When you were in good health, your obligation was to teach. Now you cannot do that. But you do have the ability to accept your suffering with faith in G-d. That is now your obligation. Whenever you fulfill your obligation according to the circumstances you are in, that is all that G-d asks of you."
Rabbi Akiva's wise words finally brought comfort to Rabbi Eliezer.
