Friday links: 17 December, 2021

 We’ve made it, friends! Welcome to Friday, the weekend, and for many of us, winter break for our kiddos! WOOHOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Turn those alarms off if you’ve got nowhere else to be for the next few weeks like me. : )

I’ve got a huge stack of library books to read with my daughter, and a nice cozy new bedspread to lounge around on while we read together (it’s soooooooooooo soft!). I am ready to be comfy at home for a bit. How about you?

 

Here’s what I found interesting online this week. Not too much, since I haven’t been online all that much, but still some good reading!

False prophets: When preachers defy COVID --  and it then kills them

Oof. Tough subject here. I’ve seen this happen online multiple times, unfortunately, and it happened to a pastor who lived in the town we used to live in in Tennessee. He said Covid wasn’t a big deal, everyone should still come to church…and then he caught Covid. And then he ended up on a ventilator. And then he died, leaving behind a wife and four daughters, one of whom was pregnant with this man’s first grandchild. There's another pastor who constantly talked about how Covid wasn't a big deal and no one should get vaccinated...and then he and his wife got Covid. And his wife died. 

Needless to say, listen to your doctors. Listen to the medical professionals and scientists, the people who have spent their entire lives dedicated to helping people. Don't wait until it's too late. Stay safe out there, friends. Get vaccinated, get your booster when you’re eligible, wear your masks in public, keep your social circle small. This isn’t over, as much as we would like it to be.

 

Mitoch shelo lishmah ba lishmah  

Here’s a little Hebrew for your day! It literally means, ‘What’s not for its own sake will come from its own sake.’ In other words, good intentions will follow good actions.

In Judaism, we’re more about action than belief; it usually doesn’t matter what you believe so long as you do. You can grumble when you donate money so long as you donate; people will get fed even if you’re grumbling. Sure, it’s nice to give with a happy heart, but so long as people get fed, that’s what matters most. And I find this is true in other aspects of life- it’s an ancient form of ‘fake it ‘til you make it,’ right?

I often don’t feel like getting up and doing all the things I need to do, like make dinner or get the dishes into the dishwasher. But the work still needs to be done, and sometimes, when I get up and do it regardless of how I feel about it, I find I’m motivated to do more things.

Here's another article on the same saying. The way it ends- ‘Some day I hope to be a much improved product’- is something that I agree with. Someday, I hope I’m a better person, a more grateful person, a kinder person, a more intelligent, more thoughtful person. I’ll keep doing my best to act as though I’m already that person, and hopefully, I’ll eventually get there!

 

That’s all I have this week, folks! We’re meeting friends at a local tiny native-animal zoo after school today, and we’ll finally get around to putting up the Christmas tree for my husband and daughter tomorrow. Other than that, no big weekend plans, just hopefully a lot of relaxing and reading. I hope you have a wonderful and safe weekend! :)