Blessing and Curses

Deuteronomy 30:19-20

"It was so eerie that day.  I had decided to go for a walk in the early evening and it was so extremely quiet.  I could hear the birds singing and the breeze blowing gently.  Even though I was listening to music, I heard no airplanes overhead or traffic sounds from the highway. It was breathtakingly quiet and it was a beautiful.  I needed to walk off the emotion of this horrific day.  The quiet came from the president’s order of no flights due to the nature of the attack on our country. 

The United States of America, a country that I have been so proud to be a citizen of, has come under attack.  My immediate family is safe and we have all been in contact with everyone. It is a day I will not soon forget." from my journal, 9/11/2001
 

September 11, 2015
I can't believe that it's been 14 years.  This event took place the first year I was back in the public schools teaching in a Bilingual classroom.  I was listening to the broadcast in Spanish on the radio on the way to school because I was practicing my Spanish for a state exam to get my temporary teaching license to teach in a Bilingual environment. I was amazed that I understood what they had said, yet I thought I was mistaken until I arrived at school and saw the news on the TV.

Since that day, I have experienced an overwhelming number of losses and also so many joys!  I have had curses and blessings!
And I don't want to go back, yet, when I do....I see how far I've, we've come! 

God promised me "blessings" and "curses"...I remember the day I sat in the church office discussing this with my spiritual counselor as I was heartbroken over choices my teenage son was making.
He told me to "choose life".  Life for myself and "life" in what I chose to do to deal with the situation. 

I hadn't thought about this in many years, but when I came across this verse the other day, it reminded me of that day...."choose life".

"This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses.
Now, choose life so that you and your children may live." Deuteronomy 30:19-20.

I think this is what I did and do after each curse I'm faced with and this is what we did after 9/11/2001.  The country, New York City and all of us, continued to choose life and to celebrate the lives that were lost. In retrospect we can see the blessings from the dark places our lives have taken us. We see the gifts, and if we don't, we need to look harder, because they are there.  We will never forget because if we do, we will never see how far we have come.

Blessings and life to you all today as we reflect on the last 14 years and the horrific act that changed our world view.

Isaiah 61:1-3
"....to give them a crown of beauty instead of ashes."