a little bat mitzvah

I did a little bit of research on bar/bat mitzvah celebrations (mainly because they throw the kid up onto a chair and dance around with them hoisted up there...and that is just down right exciting! Who wouldn't want to do a little research on this!.). And by research I do mean typing 'BAR MITZVAH' into the handy search engine google and then reading through my good friend - the Wikipedia.

(C'mon, how excited are these guys!)

And this is what I found out.

Bar Mitzvah ('Bat' for girls) is a Jewish coming of age ritual. In fact, I found out that there is such a thing as a 'Bark Mitzvah' (...and yes, this is a coming of age celebration for your dog). The Jewish meaning for 'Mitzvah' is 'commandments as said by God'. Before this coming of age the parents hold all the responsibility for the child's actions, but afterwards they are all on their own. They are accountable for their own responsibility in Jewish rituals, law, traditions and ethics. They are fully-fledged. And it's time to leave the nest. 

Although this is not a biblical concept and nothing of the sort was celebrated in Jesus' time (also found out through my 'research') maybe as a Christian we are meant to celebrate a type of 'bar mitzvah' in our faith. We need to reach a point of maturity where we need to hold ourselves responsible for our own actions, be accountable to what is written in the bible, and hold the 'commandments as said by God'. We do not need anymore hand holding and we can't expect to be spoon feed.

I have accepted the fact that I am no longer in my season of "busy being blessed" and beautiful things are not being handed to me on a plate - I have to search for them in the everyday mundane things (and sometimes really hard!). And this means I have to start purposely putting God first. A little thing I have decided to do is start a prayer journal. Every night (regardless of what time it is) I have to write out a full page of conversation with God. This tangible journal means that I can't fall asleep when I pray after turning off the light, and I know that by creating a type of challenge/goal I will stick to it (as defeat is my number one enemy).

I have to remind myself that this is a celebration. Looking in the haystack of life for that needle of beauty is a celebration because it means that God thinks I'm ready. And if He says I'm ready then who am I to argue.
So I'm gonna party it up and dance on chairs. Wanna join me?