{"id":26580,"date":"2026-02-24T07:02:31","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T12:02:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=26580"},"modified":"2026-02-24T07:36:06","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T12:36:06","slug":"26580","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=26580","title":{"rendered":"Manna: An Invitation to Something New"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\nhttps:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=F4dmG9DU_io\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Tuesday, February 24, 2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Estelle Frankel, a teacher of Jewish mysticism, describes how the story of Exodus reveals our human preference for what is known, even if something new may be better for us: <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

All freedom journeys require an open mind\u2014a mind that is not conditioned by past knowledge and experience, but open to possibility.<\/strong> Questioning opens the doors of our imagination, enabling us to consider alternatives to the status quo. Unless one is capable of imagining another possible reality, one cannot free oneself from bondage.\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We humans are creatures of habit. Our daily routines comfort us and make us feel secure for they allow us to know and predict what is going to happen.<\/strong> (OUTCOMES) Resistance to change is actually built into our evolutionary writing\u2026. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The compulsion to repeat the past is apparent in the biblical myth of the Exodus. When Moses led the Israelites to freedom, they often yearned to return to Egypt. Though they were miraculously provided for throughout their forty years of wandering in the desert, the Israelites were often nostalgic for the \u201cgood old (bad) days\u201d in Egypt: \u201cWe remember the fish we ate free in Mitzrayim\u2014also the cucumber, melons, leeks, onions and garlic\u201d (Numbers 11:5)\u2026. They missed the predictability and sense of control they felt in Egypt\u2014where everything was known.<\/strong> Though in actuality they were oppressed and enslaved by the Egyptians, the Israelites looked back on their time in Egypt with nostalgia because they could not bear the uncertainty they faced as a free people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Freedom is, ultimately, uncertain and unpredictable.<\/strong> One of the first lessons we all must learn in order to be free is how to \u201cbear\u201d uncertainty and trust in the unknown. In the biblical myth of the Exodus, the manna was a vehicle for learning this lesson. Each day for forty years, the Israelites would have to go out and gather their daily supply of manna\u2014just enough for that day\u2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The manna provided the necessary preparation for becoming a free people, for freedom requires an ability to bear uncertainty, to not know what is going to happen next, and to trust in the unfolding journey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The \u201cmanna\u201d of our daily lives is an opportunity for us to practice this same beginner\u2019s mind. <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The manna challenged the Israelites to develop beginner\u2019s mind\u2014to experience something new and fresh while eating the very same thing each day. Instead of seeking the answers that might put their questions to rest, the manna taught the Israelites to continually live the questions, to understand that the journey to freedom is about remaining awake and curious and not going into sleep mode\u2026.<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beginner\u2019s mind is a way of life<\/strong>. Each day we are challenged to see the same familiar people and landscapes with new eyes. Just as the cosmos is created and sustained anew each moment, everything is alive and changing, ourselves included, if we are spiritually awake and paying attention\u2026. When we see existence as alive with possibility, we come out of Egypt, our personal places of bondage and constriction. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

===========<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Something better than what you’re asking for<\/a><\/h1>\n\n\n\n

A powerful story about an experience with my son…<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
TYSON BRADLEY<\/a>FEB 23<\/td><\/a><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I was gone the past three days at a conference where I got to listen to and interact with Paul Young, the author of The Shack<\/em>. On the way to the airport on Friday, my wife was driving me, and my 3-year-old son Luca fell asleep in the car. I didn\u2019t want to wake him up, so I just left. Didn\u2019t say goodbye. Just slipped out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My wife told me later that when he woke up, the first thing he said was, \u201cWhere\u2019s Daddy?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, you need to know something about Luca. I have three kids, and my older daughters never really preferred one parent over the other, but Luca… he likes me. He asks for me, wants to play games with me, wants to be around me. So knowing that he woke up asking for me and I wasn\u2019t there… that was a little sad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fast forward three days. I get picked up from the airport, and Luca is asleep again. He kinda stirred when we got home, enough for me to carry him inside and put him to bed, but it wasn\u2019t this full awareness that I was back. He didn\u2019t really know I was there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then this morning, I woke up to crying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I go into his room and hush his cries, which is usually all I need to do for him to be okay and get back to sleep. But after I left, the crying started again. This time he wanted water. So I got him some water, he took a drink, I left… and heard more crying shortly after.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I go back in and say, \u201cWhat\u2019s up, buddy?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He mumbles something I can\u2019t understand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I ask again. \u201cWhat did you say?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More mumbling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After a few more tries, I\u2019m finally able to make out what he\u2019s saying:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI want to sleep in Daddy\u2019s bed.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And here\u2019s the thing… I told him, \u201cYou can\u2019t sleep in Daddy\u2019s bed right now.\u201d And he just cried even more. It felt like it broke his heart. Here I\u2019ve been gone all this time, and all he wants is just to be close to me. Just to sleep in my bed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was already time for me to get up and do my morning call, so I knew I wasn\u2019t going back to sleep. And I knew he needed more sleep, so having him come to my bed wasn\u2019t going to work either. But I said, \u201cI\u2019m going to do something even better.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I picked him up and just held him. Sat in the rocking chair in his room, and just held him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I felt such love for him in that moment. And he calmed down. After about 10 minutes, I put him back in his bed, and he was fine. He was good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So here\u2019s where this gets bigger than a cute story about my kid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I can come and go. And Luca can feel the reality of that, the weight of my absence. He woke up and I wasn\u2019t there. He came home and didn\u2019t fully know I was back. That separation was real for him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But with God, we\u2019re not separate. He doesn\u2019t leave for three days. He doesn\u2019t slip out while we\u2019re sleeping. He\u2019s not at a conference somewhere. He\u2019s with us… always.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, I know that doesn\u2019t always feel true. Sometimes it feels like God is gone. Sometimes it feels like you\u2019re waking up in a dark room calling out, \u201cWhere\u2019s Daddy?\u201d<\/strong> And the silence can be heavy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But here\u2019s what I\u2019ve found… even when we feel like we\u2019re separate from God, even when we call out and it seems like nobody\u2019s answering, the moment we say, \u201cI just want to be close to You, Father. I just want to sleep in Your bed,\u201d something happens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And maybe God\u2019s response is similar to mine with Luca. Maybe it\u2019s, \u201cIt\u2019s not time for that yet.\u201d It\u2019s not time to come and live with Him fully, to end this human life and go dwell with Him forever. That\u2019s not what this moment is for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But He wants to do something even better than what you\u2019re asking for.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

He wants to hold you. Right here. Right now. Not in some future heaven, not after you\u2019ve earned it or figured it out, but in this moment, in the middle of your crying, in the middle of your dark room, in the middle of whatever you\u2019re going through.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And in that holding, in that closeness, you can rest.<\/strong> Just like Luca resting in my arms in the rocking chair, you can rest in God\u2019s presence and find that everything is okay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And if you\u2019re willing to allow that… if you\u2019re willing to just let yourself be held instead of striving and reaching for something you think you need… you\u2019ll find that there\u2019s not just peace, but a freedom. A freedom from fear. A freedom from doubt. A freedom from shame. A freedom that allows you to act in the truth of who you are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So I just want to invite you into something simple today. Whatever you\u2019re carrying, whatever room you\u2019re crying in, whatever absence you\u2019re feeling… just tell God what Luca told me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI just want to be close to You.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And then let Him pick you up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nhttps:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=tIZitK6_IMQ\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Discussion Questions<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Opening\/Observation:<\/em> What word, image, or moment from either reading stayed with you?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moving inward:<\/em> Frankel says the Israelites were nostalgic for Egypt \u2014 a place of oppression \u2014 because at least it was known<\/em>. Where in your own life do you notice yourself reaching back for something familiar, even if it wasn’t actually good for you?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Luca moment:<\/em> Tyson’s son asked for one thing, and his father gave him something better. Is there something you’ve been asking God for that might be less about the specific request and more about just wanting to be close? What would it feel like to name it that way?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pastoral sensitivity option (for those carrying grief or heaviness):<\/em> Tyson acknowledges that sometimes the silence feels real and heavy. Where are you with that today \u2014 does this feel like good news, or does the idea of “just let Him hold you” feel complicated right now?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Silence prompt (2-3 min):<\/em> Sit with this question: What do I need to stop reaching for in order to be held?<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tuesday, February 24, 2026 Estelle Frankel, a teacher of Jewish mysticism, describes how the story of Exodus reveals our human preference for what is known, even if something new may be better for us:  All freedom journeys require an open mind\u2014a mind that is not conditioned by past knowledge and experience, but open to possibility. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26580"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=26580"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26580\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26585,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26580\/revisions\/26585"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=26580"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=26580"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=26580"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}