Yom Kippur

Today is Yom Kippur, which means Day of Atonement. I'm not Jewish, but I believe that truth can be found in many places, and this particular holiday strikes me as poignant and lovely. To celebrate this holy day, Jews basically try to set their lives right with God and ask for forgiveness for their sins. There are various outward signs of this, like fasting for 25 hours, not driving, not wearing make-up or deodorant, praying all day, wearing white, etc. I'm all for ridding myself of ungodliness, so James and I had our own Yom Kippur observance. As far as I can tell, we're both exempt from fasting, but we wore white and thought about what the word "atonement" means. Hooray for the opportunity to repent, and for God's willingness to forgive, and for His son Jesus Christ.

"Surely he hath bourne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. . . . he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors."

Also, today James is officially 6 months old. And I don't know why he looks so surprised and dazed in every picture we take of him.