The Book Of Mysteries: 14-Day DevotionalSample

The Shamayim and the Aretz

He led me out in the darkness of the night to a sandy expanse. There we lay down and gazed up into the star-filled skies.
"It's so vast," said the teacher, without turning from his upward gaze.
"The sky?" I answered. "I would think it is."
"In Hebrew, the word for heaven is shamayim. The word for earth is aretz. When you hear a Hebrew word that ends with im, it's a sign that word is plural. So what does this tell you?"
"The word for heaven is plural ...but the word for earth is not."
"Correct. Shamayim, heaven, is plural, but aretz, earth, is not. And it's not just the words; it's what the words represent."
"Which is..."
"That which is earthly is singular. That which belongs to the physical realm is finite. Everything that is physical is limited. That's why, no matter how much of the earthly realm you get, no matter how many earthly possessions you possess, it can never fill you or bring you completion."
"Because they're limited," I said, "because they're finite."
"And so a life focused on the physical..."
"Is a life filled with limitations."
"But if you empty your heart of physical things..."
"Then you empty yourself of limitations."
"So the things of earth are finite," he said, "but the things of heaven are infinite. The physical is limited, but the spiritual is unlimited. Only that which is spiritual, the infinite, can fill the heart."
"But how does one get away from living in the earlthy realm?"
"One doesn't," said the teacher. "You can't escape living in the earthly realm - but you don't have to live of the earthly things, and you don't have to fill your heart with them. Set your heart on that which is heavenly. Fill up your heart with that which is spiritual. For heaven is shamayim, and shamayim has no limitation. And, therefore, a heart filled up with that which is spiritual and that which is heavenly..."
"Becomes unlimited."

The Mission: What are your possessions? Today, let go. Free up your heart of its earthly possessions, and fill it up with the spiritual and heavenly.