KristyWes

Purim Means Lots  (...of cookies!)
The Jewish holiday of Purim is this weekend. I plan to celebrate by making hammentaschen – traditional Purim cookies. (You know me - any excuse to ritualize baking, right?) As I sit at work, not fully consumed by the task at hand – that is, erasing all pencil marks from scores of legal documents – I have plenty of time to think through the various meanings of the holiday. Commemorating the events told in the book (or technically, scroll) of Esther, Purim is a time for celebrating the Jewish people’s escape from total annihilation. The Book of Esther has all the makings of a great story – a king and queen(s), the bad guy you love to hate, the good guy you’re rooting for, a royal decree declaring doom, and eleventh-hour salvation that turns the tables on the main characters, giving power to the powerless. This is not to say exactly “All’s well that ends well.” There are some troubling aspects to the story, such as the slaughter and destruction that comes in the final chapters when the royal decree cannot be completely rescinded in time. I’m not sure what to make of this, except to re-learn that there is suffering in this world, and our actions can have far-reaching consequences. Perhaps my favorite theme of Esther’s story is that God puts us in places for a reason. God, by the way, would at first glance appear to be absent throughout the story of Esther: it is the only book of the Bible where God is not explicitly mentioned. However, His sovereign hand seems to clearly be behind the unfolding events, as suggested by Mordechai (the good guy) to Esther (the queen) when he asks her, “And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?" (Esther 4:14)
I love this verse. I quote it to myself frequently. When Esther balks at Mordechai’s request to use her royal influence, he reminds her that perhaps God (implied, in my opinion) granted her the role as queen for the very purpose of using her influence at this exact moment in history. This verse leads me to contemplate how God might want to use me in my current position. What can I accomplish for Him here? Not exactly a “royal position” – me with my endless legal documents and a bottle of white-out - but God is always in control, whether we see His name in our story or not. As I think about Purim, I am reminded to be alert for situations where He is prompting me to act – because who knows but that I have come here for such a time as this?