November 14, 2010 – Sirach 7

v23 – This one just came up today.  Paul was jumping off the fireplace ledge so I put him in the pack and play, that is kind of our time out area.  It has worked for some things, when he is throwing toys or playing with the blinds.  Well, he climbed out of the pack and play and flopped on the floor.  It was the first time we have seen him do that.  Makes me think we need a new time out and makes me a little more nervous about him being in the crib.  But it is hard to punish him when he is doing something wrong because he is just exploring and learning, but I see the wheels spinning inside his head sometimes when he is thinking about doing something we told him not to.  I probably won’t bend his neck, but I do try to be as firm as I can.  It is a tricky thing to be good at.

v27-28 – I have been trying to be better at talking to my family.  It is a new thing, but I need to get better at it.  I don’t think I have ever thought about my mom’s birth pangs.  It is not something we can really grasped because we have no memory of it.  We can see some of the sacrafises our parents made while we were growing up and what they did for us, but those things they did before we have any memory, those may have been some of the hardest, and we take it for granted because we don’t really know anything about it.  I will remember when Paul was born and what Michelle went through, but I really don’t know what my parents went through.  The Bible tells us not to forget those things and let’s know there is nothing we can ever do for what they have done for us. 

v33 – Here we see a reference to praying for or showing kindness the dead.  Anytime the Bible talks about praying for the dead, it is supporting the Catholic theology behind purgatory.  Quick run through, if a person is in Heaven, they don’t need your prayers, if they are in hell our prayer cannot do them any good.  Any prayers or showing of kindness to the dead has to be for a third group.