Day Thirteen..."Fascinating Stories and the Spirit in Which we do Things"

The reading today is packed with fascinating stories and life changing teachings. Abraham dies and is buried in Canaan next to his wife Sarah. He lives to be 175 years old and fulfills the beginnings of offspring as "numerous as the stars"...Israel. Isaac and Rebecca have the first twins mentioned in the Bible. The stories of Jacob and Essau are very colorful. Competition is evident as Jacob grabs for Essau's heel at birth. Jacob tricks Essau out of the birthright and the mother Rebecca shows favoritism. (More about Jacob and Essau later) Issac will also deceive by telling his beautiful wife is his sister. (This keeps coming up) Why? Could it be in a pre-Ten Commandment era murder and taking the wife of someone else by force is possible? The Psalmist, David, asks "how long?" Have we ever been in difficult circumstances where our prayer to God was "how much longer Lord?" The Psalm ends with hope..."I trust in your unfailing love." The Sermon on the Mount focuses on the spirit in which we do things today. Do not put on a show when serving or praying for others. God will reward in secret those who are faithful. Have you ever noticed how short the Lord's Prayer is in the Bible? Prayer is a matter of the heart and not verbosity! Fasting is also to be done in private and not call attention to one's self. Of all our daily reading thus far...this one is packed with stories, prayers, and truth for reflection.