#BlogExodus — Perfect Timing

Image: Sura Nualpradid / FreeDigitalPhotos.net 

At sundown the past Friday, we moved from the frivolity of Adar to the preparatory nature of Nisan.
We retrace our steps.
From enslavement…through the narrow places…to, we hope, redemption. Freedom.

So how fitting that this past Friday was horrid. Just. plain. horrid.

The children would not stop bickering. And Beernut, who had had a particularly trying Thursday, was still out-of-control. Wildly out-of-control.
The very thought of cleaning, cooking, baking, and preparing for the Sabbath Bride was more than I could bear.
And so…I cancelled Shabbat.

Yes, you heard me.

I. cancelled. Shabbat.
Cancelled.
Ka-PUT.

I couldn’t have the angels peer through my windows and see a complete and utter balagan. In my narrow place, it seemed that no Shabbat was better than what would quickly dissolve into yelling, crying, time-outs, etc.

Even as I was in the thick of it, I could not say with any certainty that I’d made the right decision.
But neither could I state that I’d made the wrong one.

And that’s the thing about being in those narrow straits. Even when we see the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel, it is hard to stand up against the ever-closing walls. Their oppressive nature can overpower. Overwhelm. And cloud our judgement.

Where was my Moses when I needed him??

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This post is part of a larger project, coordinated by The Ima, in preparation for Festival of Redemption, Passover. Feel free to head over to her place and thank her for dreaming up such a creative way for us to understand the themes of Passover in our own lives.