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Day 44, or February the 13th. My rose -tinted

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specks are still in good working order. Our thoughts

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today are from Numbers chapter 11, verses 5 and

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6. We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no

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cost, also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions,

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and garlic. But now we have lost our appetite.

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we never see anything but this manna. First,

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the big picture surrounding these verses. The

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mourning and complaining continued, and the wilderness

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wandering had only just begun. It's been exactly

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one year since God freed the Israelites from

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Egypt, but memories fade quickly. In no time

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at all, they were recalling the nice things they

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were missing. They make no mention of the taskmaster's

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brutality, or the making of bricks without straw.

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They just remember the negatives. Before they

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set off, they celebrated Passover, which must

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have been a spiritual high point for the whole

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nation. God never leaves their camp, as he guides

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them with a cloud, which would stop at a place

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where camp was to be made that night. When the

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time was right, it would set off again, and they

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followed it, until it stopped again. There was

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also the sound of two silver trumpets that would

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be a signal for the tribes to leave, in an orderly

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fashion, as agreed. They hadn't gone far before

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grumbling could be heard. It got louder and louder,

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and even Moses' sister Miriam and her brother

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Aaron were amongst the moaners. And now our action

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step for today. Just as we don't have to teach

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our children to misbehave, we need no instruction

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on how to moan. It seems to me that some people

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are particularly gifted at it. I don't like criticism,

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and I don't know anyone who does, do you? However,

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when the comments are made in order to improve

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my life or me, they are so much easier to bear.

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If only I could see the positive side first instead

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of having to look for it. The negative jumps

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into my face very easily, and I have to dodge

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around it in order to see the other side, the

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positive side. Why not train yourself to be the

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sort of person who says, on the other hand...