Repentance, Atonement and Nails

A Bag of Nails … a “deadly” reminder

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A mother once gave her daughter a bag of nails
and told her that every time she lost her
temper or insulted somebody she must hammer
a nail into the back of their fence.

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When Temper is Lost; a Nail is nailed to the Fence

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The first day the girl hit 14 nails into the fence.

Over the next few weeks, as she learned to control
her anger, the number of nails hammered daily
gradually dwindled.
She discovered it was easier to hold her temper
than to drive those nails into the fence.
Finally, the day came when the girl didn’t
lose her temper at all. She told her mother
about it and the mother suggested that the girl
now pull out one nail for each day that
she was able to hold her temper.
The days passed.
Finally, she told her mother that all the
nails were gone.
The mother took her daughter by the hand
and led her to the fence.
She said, “You have done well, my daughter,
but look at all the holes in the fence.
The fence will never be the same.
When you say things in anger, they leave
a scar just like these.”

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Holes represent the Spiritual, Emotional and Physical “Wounds”

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You can put a knife in a person and draw it out.
It does not matter how many times you say I’m sorry;
the WOUND is still there.

A verbal wound is almost as bad as a physical one.

 “How can I repair the fence?” asked the girl.

“Will it have to remain damaged forever?”

“Yes and no” said the mother.
“Our Rabbis say that if the fence is alive and responds to the way
you have changed, it too can change and heal itself.
If the fence is dead to the possibility of your repentance it will
carry its scars onward. The fence will never be as it was before,
but it doesn’t have to become like new to be a good fence.
If you do your part and change, and the fence does its part in response,
God will do something wonderful. God will promote a healing that will
make you and the fence better.

This process is called Atonement.

It means that the changes that come about from repentance
and forgiveness lead people to higher levels of relationship
than was the case before.”
 

“What happens if the fence doesn’t respond?” asked the girl.
“Can I ever make it whole?”
“You should try on three different occasions,” said the mother,
“but if the fence remains dead even after you have changed,
YOU can’t force it to become whole.
In that case you should fix another fence somewhere else.

There are always lots of fences that need fixing, and whenever
you fix a fence God will make something wonderful happen.

That is the miracle of Atonement.

God always responds to our attempts to change by helping
us change and always responds to our change by giving us
new and wonderful opportunities for Atonement.
This is why we have a Day of Atonement ten days
after the beginning of every new Year;
so the New Year will be a better one than the last one.”

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as retold by Rabbi Allen S. Maller

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Moral :

Wars and Quarrels are mostly started by humans,
who are sinful by nature, they do not think deeply
about ramifications nor consequences of their verbal
or physical outburst that is spilled or acted out
in the moment of anger or jealousy.

In Proverbs 19:19,

King Solomon in his God given wisdom,
exemplified that
“A hot-tempered man MUST pay the penalty;
if you rescue him, you will have to do it again.”

That hot-headed man must realize and admit and change
his ways because nobody, not even God, can help him
if he does not TRULY AND HONESTLY REPENT of his ways!

 

Rabbi Allen S. Maller

Rabbi Allen S. Maller

Her mother once gave her a bag of nails and told her that every time she lost her temper or insulted somebody she must hammer a nail into the back of their fence.The first day the girl hit 14 nails into the fence. Over the next few weeks, as she learned to control her anger, the number of nails hammered daily gradually dwindled. She discovered it was easier to hold her temper than to drive those nails into the fence.

The Dunghill

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*THE DUNGHILL*

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Imagine getting the command from your Master, “Go out behind the barn.

Find the dunghill and bring Me back something acceptable, beautiful that

I can put upon My table to enjoy.”

“Oh just great,” you think to yourself as you leave the mansion.

“I’m in for it now!

I’ve seen that grimy old dunghill and beautiful doesn’t even come close

to describing it.”

Rounding the corner of the barn, you almost get knocked over by the smell

as the wind changes and starts blowing in your direction. As you get closer,

your eyes start to water. Trying to breath in short shallow breaths, you get

as close as you dare. There it is. That dreaded dunghill which has been filled

with all sorts of filth from your life. Lust sits festering as does greed, and envy.

Maggots of strife and contention feast happily among the rotting decay of all

things repugnant.Just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse, you realize

that as this pile rots, it generates an unnatural heat from within which causes

evil gas clouds of despair and hopelessness to bubble up to the surface and

hang in a fog of misery all around the area.

You think to yourself, “Why am I here???

I left this stuff long ago and now here it is again. If I didn’t know better, I’d

say that it has grown since I had last seen it. I can’t make something out of

this junk to put on my Master’s table. All of those who wait upon Him will

laugh me to scorn. The big angels at the door probably wouldn’t even let

me in and for good reason too!”

But trying to be obedient, you grudgingly take up some of the horrible

material and think what you can do to make it fit for the Master’s table.

No amount of perfume could help kill the smell and the stuff crawling

around and in it gives a macabre impression of the entire dunghill

breathing with a life of its own.

So you kneel down and in vain try to shape it and make something useful.

No matter how much perfume you use it only serves to make the whole

ugly mess even worse.

Just then you hear Him behind you. “Child, what are you doing?”

Now the tears start streaming down your cheeks freely as you know that

there is nothing you can do but tell the truth.

“I can’t do it. Nothing I try works. Everything I do only makes it worse…”

Your own sobs cut off what was about to be a long drawn out explanation.

Gently, He tells you, “Put that back.”

So you throw the evil mess you were working with back onto the pile and

just stand there staring at the epitome of sin’s futility. You watch as the

Master takes His mighty hand and using His finger, He creates a God

shaped hole right into the heart of the horrible mess before you. Your own

soul feels what He has done and it takes your breath away.

Turning towards you He holds out His hand and shows you what looks

to be a seed of some sort. With a gentle smile He asks, “May I?”

You are confused.

Not knowing what is about to happen, you reply, “What is that?”

His response sends waves of terror into your heart, “This is My life.

I want to put it into the hole I just created. May I?”

You recoil in fear at the thought of His life going into the worst you

have to offer.

You want to scream ‘No!’ but you don’t dare.

Deep within your heart, you long to have Him do it, but it just doesn’t

seem fair that He should put His best into the worst areas of your life.

But the Master has never made a mistake and you know that even

this can only work out for good.

Half-heartedly, mumbling under your breath you say, “Yes, go ahead…,”

and the tears flow once more.

Gently the Master places His Seed within the God shaped hole His finger

had made. With loving kindness He covers it over and starts to walk away.

Turning back to look at you, He once again commands, “From this dunghill,

bring Me back something acceptable, beautiful that I can put upon My

table to enjoy.” With that He walks away.

For a long, long while you just stand there staring at the horrible mess

before you. Nothing has appeared to change and you feel as though the

Master has left you in the same predicament as when you had first arrived.

But then you see it.

A small bump in the dunghill started slowly rising up to the surface.

Looking closely you are sure that there is something green breaking out

from the very heart of your worst nightmares.

During the rest of the day you watch this little plant grow.

By day, you tend and give it water from the eternal spring of life.

By night, you sleep near it, afraid that something might happen to this

precious little life. It is not a very comfortable rest, trying to sleep on the

ground next to a dunghill, but even though you don’t know what your

Master has done, you are determined to see it through to the end.

For three days and nights you tend and guard this little seedling.

You notice that as the plant gets bigger, the dunghill gets smaller.

It appears that the plant is taking all of the evil smelling corruption and

using it to grow. Then on the morning of the third day, as the sun rises

in the distance, you awaken to see that the tiny plant has now grown

into a sizable young shrub.

But something is happening.

As the sun’s light starts to warm its leaves, you see the most beautiful

blood red roses starting to open up right before your eyes!

Hundreds and hundreds of bright red roses unfold sending out an aroma

that instantly blots out the horrible stench of the dunghill!

You stand staring for a time in total awe at the sight of these beautiful

roses which move in unison to the rhythm of a holy wind.

Each petal is shining and glistening in radiance as the sun rises higher

and higher into the morning sky.

Then you hear His voice in the distance, “My child, I AM waiting…”

The sound of His gentle thunder reminds you of your original task, to get

something from this dunghill that will be both beautiful and acceptable

for His table.

Carefully you pick twelve of the very biggest and best flowers you can

find and arrange them in your hand. Yes there are thorns, but you don’t

even seem to notice them as you look at what the Lord has done.

After walking back to the mansion, you find a vase in the kitchen and

arrange the flowers with silent joy. What at first looked to be impossible

now has become a work of living art.

As you make your way towards the main dining hall, some people stop

to admire the roses you have in your vase.

“My but they are beautiful!” says one well meaning person.

“You sure are one fine gardener!”

Without any hesitation, you humbly reply, “It’s not me, it was all the

Master’s doing…”

You hurry off, not wanting to answer any more questions such as,

“Where did you get them.”

You enter the main hall and set the roses upon the Master’s table.

You want to smile, but you can’t because you know from where

these roses have come.

You silently pray that nobody will ever find out.

Your mission accomplished, you turn to leave, but you see your

Master standing in the doorway.

You swallow hard as you glance back at the arrangement of flowers

you have just left on His table.

Your eyes once again fill with water as you stare at the floor,

unable to look at Him.

You know the truth of where you got the roses. But what is far worse

is that you know that He knows from where you have gotten them!

The thought of the dunghill breaks your heart with shame and remorse.

Gently placing His hand under your chin, He lifts your head, moving

your gaze upward so that you are now looking right into His loving eyes.

The tears stream down your face as your Lord and Master carefully

wipes away each and every one of them.

He smiles and says, “They are beautiful!

Well done, My good and faithful servant. Won’t you join Me for

some breakfast?

I would just like to sit and talk a while with you My dear and

precious friend.”

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*The End*

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*Author Unknown by all but God*

Parable of The Pencil

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PARABLE OF THE PENCIL

*author : Unknown*

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The Pencil Maker took the pencil aside, just before putting him into the box.

There are 5 things you need to know, he told the pencil,

before I send you out into the world.

Always remember them and never forget,

and you will become the best pencil you can be.

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One: You will be able to do many great things, but only if you allow yourself to be held in someone’s hand.

Two: You will experience a painful sharpening from time to time, but you’ll need it to become a better pencil.

Three: You will be able to correct any mistakes you might make.

Four: The most important part of you will always be what’s inside.

And Five: On every surface you are used on, you must leave your mark.

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No matter what the condition, you must continue to write.

The pencil understood and promised to remember,

and went into the box with purpose in its heart.

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Now change places with the pencil.
Always remember them and never forget,
and you will become the best person you can be.