Hardship. Most of us have stories to tell of the hardships that we have experienced in life. Most of us can point to times in our lives where we really had to struggle in order to overcome our circumstances. Sometimes the difficulties we have overcome were forced upon us by outside forces beyond our control. Sometimes the difficulties were the result, either directly or indirectly, by our own behavior or actions. In either circumstance, as hard as those situations may have seemed, very few of us faced the same type of difficulties and hardship that a young Jewish woman named Hadassah faced.

Passover and spring are upon us. If you are like me, then you are anticipating the newness of life as the warmer weather brings a renewal of life to the trees, plants, and green grass. It is also the time of year to renewal of the story of Redemption. It is no wonder that God commanded us to keep the Passover in the spring, and that He used the Passover to give us the resurrection of the Messiah.

Each year, according to the Hebrew calendar, we count a set of days after the Passover to the Feast of Weeks, or Shavuot. Not only is there mystery in this fifty-day count, but there is also controversy as to how it should be counted. What exactly is the purpose in this activity? And, what is the dispute concerning its counting?

Maybe your personal temptation takes the form of eating food that you KNOW that you shouldn’t, but it just tastes SOO good and makes you feel SOO satisfied when you partake of it. Because it tastes so good, perhaps you justify that it is worth the extra weight you carry around as a result of consuming such things.