Hanukkah

Tonight is the last night of Hanukkah. I am not Jewish, but my husband is so we think it is fun for the kids to see part of their culture. This year on top of the fun of the menorah lighting every night, we invited some friends over for traditional Jewish food and to share the story of Hanukkah, which you can find here http://judaism.about.com . Really Hanukkah is a festival that everyone can enjoy a lot of deep fried food and chocolate coins won me over right away! But this year I have learned a lesson thanks to Hanukkah and here is how I learned it...

On the first night of Hanukkah I went shopping to pick up some the items I would be cooking. As I checked out the cashier noticed my items and commented that it looked like I was cooking something. I replied that it was Hanukkah and he gave me a look and said, "that's hard there is a lot of rules". I smiled and said "yes, but thankfully I didn't follow the Kosher law when I cook". He smiled and I left... That small conversation got me thinking, how thankful I am that the legalisms and laws of old do not apply to me! There are still a lot of rules that are good to follow, I think most people can agree that the ten commandments are not bad rules to live by, but some laws like what is kosher or not are rules I can live without! I imagine a life full of rules about what you can eat and when, how many steps you can take on a certain day and of course the animal sacrifices for your sins :P Thankfully God knew these rules where not something that I and a lot of others could ever keep up with so he gave us Christmas and a son to be the final sacrifice that anyone would ever need! We will still celebrate Hanukkah in the years to come, it is fun and a miracle, but my family and I will always be more excited about Christmas!

2 Corinthians 12:9
"But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness"."