I have to admit that when I come to the end of the week on a particular middah, I often feel like I barely got started on it. Some middot just seem to need long-term focus, and gratitude (from last week) is one of those.
order within and without
Order begins within, but inevitably shows up on the outside. “External disorder may be a reflection of internal disarray,” as Alan Morinis reminds us. Now, as I’m writing this, I’m sitting at a rather cluttered desk in a study that’s not the neatest in the world either. So, what does this say about my internal order?
turn aside to order
All of the middot are practical, and order might contend to be the most practical of all. It entails things like putting the car keys back on their hook as soon as you walk in the door, setting your alarm so you get up early enough the next morning, and keeping your desk tidy to eliminate distractions.
order up
sequence and order
As a child I was diagnosed with Nonverbal Learning Disorder (NVLD). One of the clearest indicators of this learning difference was my early inability to process information out of sequence. If my mother told me to put on my shoes and socks I would stare at her blankly; I needed to be told to put on my socks and shoes.
putting life in order
There was an office sign that read “a clean desk is a sign of a disturbed mind.” Anyone who has ever battled with a cluttered desk could smile at that statement. Clutter is something that most people deal with at one point or another. Some people confine it to one room, while other people let it overtake every room in their house.
both inner and outer order
order and priorities
eat that frog
There's an old saying that goes, "If the first thing you do when you wake up in the morning is eat a live frog, then nothing worse can happen for the rest of the day!"a good place to start
omer and order
Of all the biblical holidays, only Shavuot – the time of the giving of Torah – lacks a specific date. Instead of giving a month and a day as with other holidays, the Torah tells us to count forty-nine days from the offering of first fruits during Passover. Then on the fiftieth day we celebrate Shavuot.
Shema: 4D approach to life
Do you like to make choices? Whether you do or not, it seems as though for each of us there is a never-ending stream of options that place demands upon our time and threaten the normal and easy flow of our lives. With the blessings of the information age, come even more options, more choices and a still greater demand upon our lives.
order in the midst of chaos
During the last half of December through the month of January, I was recuperating from surgery and was, for the most part, bedridden. To pass the time, I played an online game called cityville. The point of the game was to build a city from scratch. Since I had time on my hands, I started out with a one horse town I named Michaelville.
Not surprisingly, the name for the collection of blessing and davening texts for the Jewish people is the siddur, which comes from the word, seder (order).
