The View from Ecclesiastes

Vanity of vanity
I’ve wasted my life on all these lies
And all I get is nothing
I gained the whole world but lost my soul
And all I have is vanity.
Is vanity.

Vanity of vanity
The desert has become my soul
And all I have is nothing
The waste of it breaks my heart in two
And all is futility.
And all is vanity.


Vanity of vanity
Can anyone redeem me
From the zero I’ve become
A pointless existence
from underneath the sun
And everything is vanity
And everything is vain.


But I remember You
Do You remember me?
Won’t You come redeem me from my vanity?
Buy back the youth I’ve wasted
Eaten up in sin
Won’t You come and save me
From this vanity?

Vanity of vanity
The way things used to be
I’ve lost my world but gained my soul
The Center of existence
The Reference Point that saves
Saves me from the chaos
Of my vanity.

Interesting Reactions

The comments on the last post were interesting. Something about the topic of women working outside the home versus working in the home seem to bring out the passion. However the article I referred to wasn't offering commentary, only noting a trend.

I think it is instructive to see what the general population is doing. When you have a fairly sizeable chunk of women who aren't necessarily Christians moving away from the work world and back into the home, Christian women should take heart that the command to be a keeper at home is a good one to follow. Does that mean she must always and only work at home? Of course not! Individual circumstances dictate what may or may not take place. However, as a general rule, the natural desire of women to work in the domestic sphere and to raise their own children is a natural God-given bent that even those outside of Christ recognize. In our rush to be oh so trendy and with it, it is easy for us Christians to gloss this over.

Are Prairie Muffins Making a Comeback?

I should be cleaning my office and bedroom right now, but I had to stop and write a few lines after reading today's newspaper with my lunch. There was a prominent article in the business/career opportunity section of the newspaper and the title reads, "Women vanishing from the job market."

The article basically outlines the declining rates of women in the workforce -- a trend that began back in the 90's and has continued. Alberta, arguably the richest province in Canada because of the oil boom, has the lowest unemployment rate, and the highest number of women leaving the workforce. This has analysts scratching their heads. Is it because there isn't as robust a childcare industry as other parts of the country, or is it because women are opting for personal interests and raising their own children?

One analyst believes that the demands on employees has "become toxic" and therefore the workplace is less attractive for women who find greater delight in thier children. This has some people worried because the workforce is shrinking at a time when the baby boom generation is beginning to retire. More retirees and less workers places a strain on social income sources, doncha know.

Are we beginning to see a backlash against the feminist trend to "dump the children on someone else and let's all be men" trend of yesteryear? Let's hope so.

Patricia is ready to go... 

Trish and her bridesmaids. Trista is the one on the right with the darkest hair. 

Exchanging vows 

Exchanging rings 

Codey signs the registry 

Trish signs the registry 

The Bridal party 

Codey and Trish 

A pretty couple 

Hitched, finally. 

Yeah! 

Letter to My Daughter and New Son-In-Law

Dear Patricia and Codey,

Today you have taken vows before God and man to love and cleave to one another in the estate of matrimony. The estate into which you have just entered is an honorable one. It is the estate designed by God for man’s comfort and aid, for companionship, for the bearing and raising of children, and ultimately, as a vehicle for enjoying God and glorifying Him in this life. It is designed for mankind’s blessing and it is the relationship that God chose to illustrate the love that He has for His Bride, the Church. It is also the estate in which you will be tested and learn just what kind of a person you really are.

Life is a lot like a full cup of tea. If someone bumps your arm as you carry it, the tea sloshes over the side and you get to see what kind of tea was in the cup. The trials of life have a way of jostling our arms and the tea in our cups becomes available for viewing. No one has a better view than those who live in close intimate ties with you, be it your spouse, or the children you may eventually have.

So what should form the foundation of your relationship to one another? Many people believe that romantic love is a good foundation to build upon. It is heady and exciting and in the throes of it, you believe nothing so good could ever fail. However, if you ask just about any married couple who has been around for a few years, you will learn that romantic love comes and goes. If it goes in the face of daily life, what are you left with?

I have been convinced through my own experience and through watching others that the foundation of any successful marriage lies not in our own desires and emotions but in faithfulness to our own promise, knowing that we will be held accountable for how we keep that vow by the One in whom we live, move, and have our being. For today, you made a vow to forsake all others and to cleave to one another. That commitment will be tested in the days, weeks, and years ahead. Make sure that you build the foundation of your marriage on the solid rock of commitment and not on the sands of emotion.

One of the biggest temptations you will face will be to blame each other for whatever struggles you are enduring at the moment. The blame game is so easy to play and it is so soothing to one’s own pride to think that another person is responsible for everything that is wrong in a relationship. Quite often you will find, much to your chagrin, that the very thing you are blaming the other for is something you are guilty of yourself. It requires humility to confess your own share of the problem and to seek forgiveness, yet I know of no other or faster way to resolve things than by this method.

You will also be tempted at times to think of your marriage in terms of your own personal aspirations as though it existed for your own personal pleasure. But you have entered into a covenant with one another to work together as a team. This is a situation where the whole is greater than its parts, but it is easy to forget that when you are upset or discontented.

Be kind to one another. Treat one another courteously and seek the highest good for one another. Selflessness builds, but selfishness destroys. They say that familiarity breeds contempt and in marriage it can breed disrespect and taking one another for granted. Guard against this tendency by being careful to always treat one another well. Remember that harsh words stir up anger, but soft words allay it.

There is much I would like to say to you both, but if you remember nothing else, please remember this piece of wisdom I was given a number of years ago: Do not look to your spouse, your children, your parents, your friends, or any other human being as the source of your happiness and joy. We are all frail, foolish, and sinful and, it is inevitable that we will fail and disappoint one another. Instead, seek to find happiness and fulfillment in serving God. For He alone is perfect and never fails, and in serving Him you will find joy in serving one another.

Lastly, I would like to leave you with some words of wisdom that remind us all just what love is really about:

Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails… But now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.


Much love to you children,


And on a more personal level....


Dear Patricia,

Today is your big day and how I wish that circumstances were such to allow me to be there with you.

Where has the time gone? I can remember, as though it were yesterday , holding you in my arms for the first time. You were my first baby and I felt so overwhelmed by the enormity of the responsibility that comes with raising and training another human being. But also overwhelmed with a deep and abiding love that I didn’t know it was possible for one person to feel for another. I wanted so much to do right by you.

Yesterday I took your younger brothers and sisters and your nephew and niece to the park. As I pushed baby James in the swing, I was reminded of a little person that I pushed in a swing not so long ago. I remember your babyhood and girlhood with a great deal of fondness. Before Trista was born, and while your father and I moved around a lot with his work, you were my only constant companion and little buddy. My head is filled with all kinds of snapshots of you at that time. I can remember when you were about six months old, your father and I had gone to McDonald’s and I had you sitting on a table in front of me. You bent forward and got your first suck of milkshake and I thought you were so clever to be able to figure out how to suck from a straw. (Of course, that was back before I got into nutrition, and today it would be a protein shake you would be slurping up!)

Then there was the time we lived in Qualicum Beach. You had your first birthday there. In the morning, it didn’t matter how quiet I tried to be, you would hear me from your bedroom and to get my attention you would throw your bottle out of your crib. I swept up quite a few broken glass baby bottles that year!

How can I forget your phobia of clowns? At one time people used to rent these full sized animated clown figures outside their businesses to draw attention to them. Going to town could be an ordeal because I would have to scan the sidewalks to find who had rented one that day, and then I had to walk on the opposite side of the street shielding your eyes from them so that you wouldn’t scream your head off when you saw them. Then there was the time you were in vacation Bible school and the theme that year was a circus with – you guessed it – clowns. Every day you had to be rescued from your class because the clowns would come in to introduce a Bible lesson and you would have a screaming fit.

Or how about the time that you and Trista cut your hair? You thought you were so clever by flushing all the hair down the toilet and that therefore I would never notice what you had done. We had to make a long trek to the hairdresser’s on foot, and you had butchered your hair so badly, I felt like putting a paper bag on both of your heads! The hair dresser’s laughed as soon as I walked in with you because they knew what we were there for : A salvage operation.


Later on you became the fairy ballerina of the family. You danced so gracefully except for the times you clumped people in the head with your foot when you tried to do a pas de deux in our kitchen.

Ballet and bread will always be linked together in my mind. I have saved some pictures for you of the kitchen before the cupboards were in and the old KitchenAide machine you used to used to mix the bread that funded your ballet lessons. You probably didn’t appreciate our making you get out there and go door to door to sell it at the time, but I bet your abilities to deal with the public now are because of your prior experience in having to sell your wares.

And so you grew over the years from the baby, to the girl, to the young lady who left home. I don’t know if you will ever realize what a large hole in my heart your leaving left. I don’t think anyone regrets your going more than I do. I wish we could go back and do that part over.

Trisha dear, I want you to know, that I have always loved you and always will. You are constantly in my prayers. None of us knows what the future has to hold, but I pray that the mercy and grace of God will fill your heart and life, and that you will look to Him as the source of your joy and comfort. I pray that the Lord enables you to be a better wife and eventually, a better mother than I was and am.

Much love and affection,
Mom

Childhood Heart Attacks and Strokes and other Health News

Who would have thought that not paying attention or having ants in your pants could give you a stroke or heart attack? Yet these are just some of the adverse side effects of the drugs used to treat children diagnosed with ADHD.

CHILDREN as young as five have suffered strokes, heart attacks, hallucinations and convulsions after taking drugs to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder...

While officials said there was no conclusive evidence that the medications caused psychiatric episodes or heart problems, they noted a "complete absence" of similar reports in children treated with placebos during trials of ADHD drugs.

Okaaaaay....

Loneliness and Heart Disease

So does poor emotional conditions lead to ill health?

Here's a quick explanation of how it may happen:

STEP 1: Social isolation, lack of social support, social dislocation (call it what you like) – leads to anxiety, depression and a dysfunction in the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA-axis). The HPA-axis controls most of the hormones in our body, and also the unconscious, or autonomic, nervous system.

STEP 2: This HPA-axis dysfunction leads to overdrive of the sympathetic arm of the autonomic nervous system (the flight or fight bit). At the same time there is also disruption of stress hormone production – particularly cortisol.

STEP 3: Abnormal cortisol production leads to abdominal obesity, raised blood pressure, raised clotting factors in the blood, loss of arterial reactivity, raised blood sugar levels, raised free fatty acids etc. etc. (You may have heard this called ‘metabolic syndrome’)

STEP 4: Plaques develop in arteries – and arteries narrow

STEP 5: Death from heart disease.

Moral of the story: Find some friends and get a life.

Soda Pop and Benzene

Benzene is a toxic chemical known to cause leukemia. It can form naturally; it's found in forest fires, gasoline and cigarette smoke. It also is widely used in industrial production to make plastics, rubber, detergents, drugs and pesticides.

The Environmental Working Group has asked the FDA to warn consumers that two ingredients found in some forms of pop contain ingredients that can form benzene: ascorbic acid and benzoate preservatives, also known as Vitamin C and potassium or sodium benzoate.

The FDA said that things like heat, light, and shelf life can determine whether benzene is formed meaning that you could find it in one can, but not in another of the same brand. Therefore, they didn't think it was in the best interests of consumers to inform them of this fact. They would rather let consumers gamble on whether or not things were stored properly, I guess.

Rising Rates of Cancer

According to the Canadian Cancer Society, the number of new cases of cancer has doubled from 1973. Approximately 44 percent of men and 38 percent of women can expect to be diagnosed with this disease. At least 50 percent of these cases are related to exposure to known risk factors, meaning that people can take evasive action and avoid them.

One of the biggest sources of chemical exposure is in the home: specifically in cleaning products. Unless it is proved otherwise, you should assume that household chemicals contain carcinogenic compounds.

Here are some of the more common things to avoid:

Chlorine-based powdered and liquid cleansersHazard: Sodium hypochlorite

When mixed with ammonia, these products release chloramine gas, which can cause respiratory problems. Currently not listed as a carcinogen per se, but its by-products, which occur during contact with other substances in the household environment or even water, can be carcinogenic.

Toilet bowl cleaners
1. Beware: Hydrochloric acid or sodium acid sulfate

Burn skin and can cause vomiting, diarrhea and stomach injury if ingested. Can damage vision on direct contact with the eyes. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says no information is available on the carcinogenic effects of hydrochloric acid in humans.

2. Beware: 1,4-dichlorobenzeneA mould, moth and mildew pesticide that has caused liver and kidney tumors in rats and mice, respectively. Classified by EPA as a Group C, possible human carcinogen.

Powdered scouring products

Beware: Crystalline silicaCrystalline silica at a respirable size was classified as a known human carcinogen by the National Toxicology Program (NTP), at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, in 2000. First listed as reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen in 1991.

Disinfectants
Beware: PhenolCorrosive; can cause diarrhea, fainting, dizziness, and kidney and liver damage. EPA has classified phenol as a Group D, not classifiable as to human carcinogenicity, based on a lack of data concerning carcinogenic effects in humans and animals. But dermal studies have found that phenol applied to the skin may be a tumor promoter and/or a weak skin carcinogen in mice.

Soaps, furniture, floor and metal polishes and waxes

Beware: NitrobenzeneEffects: Can cause skin discoloration, shallow breathing, vomiting and death. Reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen by NTP in 2004.

Soaps and detergents
Beware: Formaldehyde used as an anti-bacterial agent and preservativeStrong irritant of soft tissue such as eyes, throat, skin and lungs. Reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen by NTP.

Spot removers and carpet cleaners; dry-cleaning solutions

Beware: Perchloroethylene, tetrachloroethylene, 1-1-1- trichloroethylene, methylene chlorideAll are hazardous to liver and kidneys if ingested or deeply inhaled. Perchloroethylene is an animal carcinogen and reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen. Methylene chloride is a carcinogen, a neurotoxin and a reproductive toxin. Trichloroethylene reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen.

Mothballs, solid-stick room deodorizers

Beware: Naphthalene, paradichlorobenzene
May damage eyes, blood, liver, kidneys, skin and the central nervous system. Naphthalene is reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen. Paradichlorobenzene can harm the central nervous system, liver, and kidneys.

Dish anti-bacterial detergents and fabric softeners

Beware: Quarternary ammonium compounds and imidazolidinyl urea.
Both are known formaldehyde-releasers, which are carcinogenic and mutagenic.
Surface active agents and emulsifiers in household cleansers, oven cleaners, tub and tile cleaners, carpet cleaners and pre-washing laundry agents

Hazard: Ethanolamines: monoethanolamines (MEA), diethanolamine (DEA), triethanolamines (TEA)
Classified as hazardous in several states for liver, kidney and lungs, as well as depression of the central nervous system. Have not been tested for cancer-causing effects.

Want to know what to use instead? Have a look at the Guide to Less Toxic Products at the Nova Scotia Environment Health Association or EnviroSense.

Avian Bird Flu: The Next Deadly Pandemic? Likely Not!

They say that figures don't lie, but liars can figure.

Millions of birds in Asia have been slaughtered in an effort to contain something that is being reported to be a deadly strain of influenza. Between Dec. 26, 2003 and Oct. 24, 2005, there were 121 confirmed H5N1 infections and, of those, 62 have reportedly died. That makes the “apparent” death rate just over 51 percent, ranking this infection among the most deadly on record.

HOWEVER, these were people who were sick enough to need hospitalization. There are many who had milder symptoms who didn't need hospitalization and therefore are not on the radar screen. Thus the actual figures of those infected with Avian flu are not known. Additionally, all but one of the documented cases of avian flu have shown that it has been transmitted from animal to person, not person to person. There is also evidence that humans are developing resistance to this virus. Without a sustained transmission from human to human, it is quite likely that avian flu will never become the pandemic that pharmaceutical companies pray it will.

So why all the hype and scare about an Avian Flu pandemic? Follow the money.

Big Pharma is gearing up to make lots of money through vaccines to protect people from a virus that will likely never amount to much. Meanwhile we are being distracted from other important issues by dead chickens in far away places.

Dumb Chick

Linda Hirshman has given cogent evidence that it is possible to be educated beyond one's intelligence when she suggested on a recent Good Morning America program that a woman who stays home to raise her children and be a homemaker is destroying herself, her children, and society.

"We care because what they do is bad for them, is certainly bad for society, and is
widely imitated, even by people who never get their weddings in the Times,"
Hirshman wrote. "This last is called the 'regime effect,' and it means that even
if women don't quit their jobs for their families, they think they should and
feel guilty about not doing it."

Hirshman also said educated women choosing to stay home was bad for them as individuals. "A good life for humans includes the classical standard of using one's
capacities for speech and reason in a prudent way, the liberal requirement of
having enough autonomy to direct one's own life, and the utilitarian test of doing more good than harm in the world," Hirshman wrote. "Measured against these time-tested standards, the expensively educated, upper-class moms will be leading lesser lives."

Well, excuse me. I am very busy and need to get back to wrecking society by doing family worship with my kids.

Herbs! Herbs! Herbs!

Nothing tickles the heart of a frugal mother in search of natural health remedies like getting a shipment of incredibly reasonably priced herbs.

Marc picked up my first substantial shipment of bulk herbs today. I ordered 54 different herbs in the amount of one or two ounces each -- some for samples and some for current use. Prices ranged from a high of $5. 93 per ounce to a low of $.39 an ounce. Including shipping and tax, I spent a total of $121.07. If I had done this with my normal supplier it would have been several hundred percents in excess of this!

What this means is that not only can I afford to put all my kids on herbs, it also means that many of the families which I serve will be able to treat their entire family with herbs as well. Before the prohibitive (though still relatively inexpensive cost) meant that only one child or family member could be treated.

For Canadians who are looking for an inexpensive source of high quality herbs, check out Biofilia's website. Americans might be able to get these wonderful prices as well, though it is more of a risk when shipping across the border. Email Grant at howdy@biofilia.ca and ask for the current price list. Tell him Cheryl sent you.

An Early Irish Covenanter ?

I bind unto myself today the strong name of the trinity,by invocation of the same, the Three in One, the One in Three.I bind this day to me forever by power of faith Christ's incarnation,His baptism in the Jordan river, his death on the cross for my salvation;His bursting from the spiced tomb, his riding up the heavenly way,His coming at the day of doom I bind unto myself today.

I bind unto myself today the power of God to hold and lead,His eye to watch, his might to stay, his ear to harken to my need,The wisdom of my God to teach, his hand to guide, his shield to ward,The Word of God to give me speech, his heavenly host to be my guard.

Christ be with me, Christ within me,Christ behind me, Christ before me,Christ beside me, Christ to win me;Christ to comfort and restore me;Christ beneath me, Christ above me,Christ in quiet, Christ in danger,Christ in hearts of all that love me,Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.I bind unto myself the name, the strong name of the Trinity,By invocation of the same, the Three in One, and One in Three,Of whom all nature hath creation, eternal Father, Spirit, Word;Praise to the God of my salvation, salvation is of Christ the Lord!

--Patrick, First Bishop of Ireland
(AD 387-464)

From Douglas Wilson's blog:

Trial By Internet Topic: A Justice Primer

The Bible tells us that the man who is able to tame the tongue is able to deal with anything. The tongue is a restless evil, he says, full of poison. It sets the world on fire, and is set on fire by hell. As long as sin has been in the world, this has been true, but whenever new means of communication are developed, sin eagerly rushes in often before cultural sanctification and manners catch up with it.

The printing press was invented, and was gloriously used by God to spread the availability of the Scriptures. But the same printing press made scurrilous broadsheets and pamphlets possible, and those applications were not slow in coming. The telephone was invented, and made many wonderful things possible, but gossip and time-wasting chatter were right there as well.

Now we are dealing with the internet and email, and all the warnings that St. James gave us have to be taken to heart in new ways. We are dealing with the electronic tongue, and we have not yet learned how to deal with the electronic tongue. To the extent that pastors talk about the internet in sermons at all, it tends toward concerns about pornography. This is far from being an unreasonable concern, because porn is a big problem. But I think Scripture also encourages us to address the sins that are commonly and routinely committed by people in front of other Christians. Christians who use porn almost always sneak off to do it alone, in secret. But disgraceful web sites are set up for the whole world to see, and it is not recognized for what it is. We are so much in the grip of radical individualism that as long as someone is advancing something that they call their perspective or "point of view," we think in First Amendment terms rather than in Second Greatest Commandment terms. But points of view are not self-authenticating. They are not autonomous. And to apply Dilbert to this, "When did ignorance become a point of view?"

With this in mind, let me just note a few sins of the electronic tongue. They are all particular applications of principles found in Scripture, revealed to us long before the day of ones and zeros. But we have to remember that we are creatures of habit in our virtues and vices, and this means that people will often do in a new setting something they would never dream of doing in an older, more familiar setting. This is because the older, more familiar setting was governed by a set of manners that were seeking (sometimes rightly, sometimes wrongly) to govern that behavior. But when the setting changes, all bets are off. In a previous era, pietistic churches often had rules against going to the movies in a theater, which used to be the only place you could see them. But with the advent of television, the VCR, and then the DVD, members of such churches can watch movies without a twinge in their conscience. Men who would never dream of buying a pornographic magazine will visit pornographic web sites. And bringing us to the point of this post, people will type things at a keyboard that they would never dream of saying.

So here are just a few things to watch for:

Trial by Internet: we have been covering the principles of justice in this series. Those principles are to be applied by individual Christians who are faithful members of churches, sessions of elders, faithful presbyteries, and councils of Christians. They are all to be dealt with in an incarnational way, settled and applied by people who live with one another, and love one another in three-dimensional ways. When someone's reputation is being dragged through the mud, we have to remember to give an attack web site the same authority (i.e. none) that we would give a xeroxed nasty-gram tacked to a telephone pole. Scurrilous sites are easy to identify, and Scripture requires us to ignore them completely. Not only should we ignore them completely, we should ignore those who do not distance themselves from everyone engaged in that kind of thing.

Other sites are not scurrilous, and make a great show of putting on a dignified air, but they are still trying to try the case in the wrong place. Jesus did not say, "And if your brother does not hear you, I hear blogspots are fairly inexpensive."

Speed Is Not Synonymous With Truth: we used to equate a "fast talker" with a greater likelihood of falsehood. This suspicion ought to remain with us. What the Internet does is enable us to circulate our ignorance around the globe at a high rate of speed. The fact that I can click a button, and people in Australia can read what I wrote a few seconds later, does not make it right. Jesus said of the Pharisees that they made a great business of crossing over land and sea to make a convert, and when they made one, he became twice as much a son of hell as themselves. You sell what's on the shelves. You export what you produce. You say what's in your heart. Now if what you have is a pack of lies, or poorly-researched slanders, or plain old-fashioned folly, then that is what goes up when you click the button

The Internet Is Not Private Space: many who sit behind keyboards make the same mistake made by a toddler who hides by covering his eyes. If he can't see others, they must not be able to see him. There is truly a weird phenomenon going on here. A few years ago, a couple who worked for an establishment made some home-made pornographic material and posted on the web. Their employer found out about it and dismissed them. They, in turn, sued the employer for invading their privacy. Now think about this for a minute. Another illustration of this kind of a strange mind-bend is the phenomenon of what should be called the Narcissistic Blog. A private diary is a private diary, and people can have private pity parties in them. But a narcissistic blog is not private, and cannot by any stretch of the imagination be considered private. But on more than one occasion I have known of young people surprised that their elders knew about something. "How did you know that?" "Well, you posted it on the world wide web." I have sometimes thought (not quite in jest) that larger churches ought to bring an elder on staff whose sole job would be to monitor the blogs of the young people in the church. As Yogi Berra once said, "You can observe a lot by just watching."

Courage Is Personal: when you have something against your brother, or your brother has something against you, buy him a beer and talk to him about it. Commit yourself to it over time. Do everything you can to deal with problems the way a courageous man would, if he were here.

Our Lady of Westminster

Go and read this poem by Douglas Wilson.

I am a Free-Wheeling Analyst.

About You
You are an Analyst
Your attention to detail, confidence, sense of order, and focus on functionality combine to make you an ANALYST.

You are very curious about how things work, delving into the mechanics behind things.
Along those lines, how well something works is usually more important to you than what it looks like.

You find beauty and wonder mainly in concrete, functional, earthly things.

You are very aware of your own abilities, and you believe that you will find the best way of doing things.

Accordingly, problems do not intimidate you, as you believe in yourself.

You trust yourself to find solutions within the boundaries of your knowledge.

You don't spend a lot of time imagining how things could be different—you're well-grounded in the here-and-now.

It is important for you to follow a routine, and you prefer the familiar to the unknown.

Your independent streak allows you to make decisions efficiently and to trust your instincts
You prefer to have time to plan for things, feeling better with a schedule than with keeping plans up in the air until the last minute.

Generally, you believe that you control your life, and that external forces only play a limited role in determining what happens to you.

If you want to be different:
Try to embrace the imaginative, creative part of your personality more often.
Try moving beyond the things that you find comfortable—open yourself up to a broader range of experiences.

How You Relate to Others

You are Free-Wheeling
Your charismatic nature, liveliness, and independence make you FREE-WHEELING.

You don't mind being in the spotlight, preferring larger gatherings to quiet nights.

You take a practical approach to people, not getting too involved in their feelings—or their business.

At the same time, your acceptance of others leads you to be understanding of their life circumstances, even if you don't quite understand their emotional reactions to some things.

Although you have a wide circle of friends, you're very discerning as to whom you can trust.

You're not rigid in your beliefs about the world, and you don't want to impose your perspective on others, but at the same time, you know that plenty of people don't always act responsibly.

Engaging with others is a large part of how you live in the world, and most importantly, it plays a role in how you see yourself—you tend to learn the most about yourself in situations where you are with other people.

You have an understanding of the complexities of situations, and you don't judge others too hastily.

If you want to be different:
Your open-mindedness about the world gives you a great perspective on things, but your lack of trust in others limits how close you can get with them. Try opening up to people a bit more without losing your healthy skepticism.

While being the life of the party comes naturally to you, be sure to reserve time for yourself—see what you can learn by spending some time observing the world rather than just by diving in.

Today's Amusement-- Funny Bumper Stickers

Wrinkled was not one of the things I wanted to be when I grew up.
So many stupid people, and so few asteroids.
Never believe generalizations.
Avoid alliterations always.
Know When to Say When
Dyslexics are teople poo.
I used to have a handle on life, but it broke.
The control key on the keyboard does not work.
Lawyers have feelings too (allegedly).
On your mark, get set, go away!
I didn't climb to the top of the food chain to become a vegetarian!
What would Scooby do?
I am not infantile, you stinky poopyhead.
I have a degree in Liberal Arts - do you want fries with that?
Suburbia: Where they tear out the trees and name streets after them.
Does the name Pavlov ring a bell?
My mother is a travel agent for guilt trips.
Stress is when you wake up screaming and you realize you weren't asleep.
Nice perfume. Must you marinate in it?
Cover Me! I'm Changing Lanes
How do I set a laser printer to stun?
The last thing I want to do is hurt you. But it's still on the list.
The trouble with the gene pool is that there's no lifeguard.
Old age comes at a bad time.
You're just jealous because the voices only talk to ME.
Without ME, it's just AWESO.
Honk if you want to see my finger.
As long as there are tests, there will be prayer in public schools.
Your kid may be an Honor Student, but YOU'RE still an idiot.
I took an IQ test and the results were negative.
Women who seek to be equal with men lack ambition.
To err is human, to blame it on somebody else shows management potential.
Driver carries no cash. He's married.
Watch out for the idiot behind me.
Don't believe everything you think.
Earth is full. Go home.
All I ask is the chance to prove that money can't make me happy.
My wife keeps complaining I never listen to her (or something like that).
Never miss a good opportunity to shut up.
If it isn't broken, fix it until it is.
What if the hokey pokey is really what it's all about?

Mens sana in corpore sano

Roughly translated, the above latin quotation by Juvenal means that those who have a healthy body will have a healthy mind.

It is now known that when a person exercises, their brains produce a quantity of a chemical called "brain derived neurotrophic factor" or BDF. This chemical acts like fertilizer on brain cells causing them to sprout branches and grow like crazy.

Animal trials using rats and mice divided into an exercising group with access to wheels, and those who led more sedentary lives found that the exercising animals learned far more quickly than their couch potatoe counterparts. Upon dissection it was found that not only was the athletic rodents bodies more buff, so was their brains. They had more neurons, and greater connectivity, which is a sign of learning ability.

In addition to improving your brain's ability to work, there is heavy evidence that those who exercise are less likely to develop Alzheimer's or Parkinson's diseases.

So now I have another good reason to continue walking and running on my elliptical trainer.

I just figured out how to use the "add image" button on blogger and since I haven't posted any recent photos of James lately, but here is one for all you folkses. Isn't he cute?

Covenant Life

"It may be asked: “Why ought they to have mourned over another man’s sin?” I answer, for two reasons: first, in consequence of the communion that exists among the members of the Church, it was becoming that all should feel hurt at so deadly a fall on the part of one of their number; and secondly, when such an enormity is perpetrated in a particular Church, the perpetrator of it is all offender in such a way, that the whole society is in a manner polluted. For as God humbles the father of a family in the disgrace of his wife, or of his children, and a whole kindred in the disgrace of one of their number, so every Church ought to consider, that it contracts a stain of disgrace whenever any base crime is perpetrated in it. Nay, farther, we see how the anger of God was kindled against the whole nation of Israel on account of the sacrilege of one individual — Achan. (Joshua 7:1.) It was not as though God had been so cruel as to take vengeance on the innocent for another man’s crime; but, as in every instance in which anything of this nature has occurred among a people, there is already some token of his anger, so by correcting a community for the fault of one individual, he distinctly intimates that the whole body is infected and polluted with the contagion of the offense. Hence we readily infer, that it is the duty of every Church to mourn over the faults of individual members, as domestic calamities belonging to the entire body. And assuredly a pious and dutiful correction takes its rise in our being inflamed with holy zeal through displeasure at the offense; for otherwise severity will be felt to be bitter. 271"

John Calvin, Commentary on I Corinthians 5:1-5

For those who wonder what I look like... 

Book Reviews

One of the reasons why I don't have a list of the books I am reading on my sidebar is because I so seldom get a chance to read anything beyond my daily Bible reading. Or if I do try to read, I fall asleep over it. (In fact, sitting down for a few minutes is an invitation to snooze -- I must be getting old, or else the sleep interruptus gets me.) The other reason, of course, is because I don't know how.

However, I have managed to get through a couple of books lately in a sporadic manner. First of all, one of these books was one I mentioned a few months ago: Natural Cures They Don't Want You to Know About by Kevin Trudeau. Apparently Kevin doesn't want you to know about them either because he won't tell in his book citing some court cases that muzzle him. That doesnt' stop him from offering to tell you on his website for a fee. In short, the book is almost a complete waste of time and money. Most of the information that is in there about diet and natural means of healing are good as far as they go, but don't expect to find miracle cures for cancer, diabetes, or heart disease. Ripoff is the word that comes to my mind when I think of this book.

On the other hand, another book I am working my way through that is helpful is called Sleeping Through the Night: How Infants, Toddlers, and their Parents Can Get a Good Night's Sleep by Jodi A. Mindell, Ph.D. I got this book from the library in desperation because somehow I lost the knack of getting kids to sleep through the night. Already in a week, James is sleeping much better and I am getting more sleep than I have had in a long time.

Back about four babies ago, I decided that co-sleeping was something I was going to do. It has helped me with bonding emotionally with the children, but it has also meant that I haven't had a decent night's sleepfor years between getting kicked in the head by toddlers, waked by guzzling infants, and pregnancy insomnia. The kids weren't sleeping well either. Now that I am getting older, I am finding sleep deficit much harder to cope with, so in desperation I looked for some answers from a book.

I don't want to post a long description about the book's contents because you can get it for yourself to read if this is something that you are struggling with. Let me just say, this book is great. Explains sleep cycles and tells how to train babies into good sleep habits as well as things parents do to cause sleep problems. This book may save your sanity and relationship with your wakeful wee one.

Health Notes

I haven't been posting a lot lately. Haven't been reading blogs either. No time. Or, else, I do have the time, but if I used it, it is taking away from other things I ought to be doing. Blogging feels more like an indulgence when it isn't because I feel compelled to spill my guts on things.

Anyhow, I decided to blog about these articles I have been reading just cuz I like to share with y'all. Even though my office is a mess and I have a client coming later...

Menopause and Memory Loss -- Does one cause the other? Not according to a study done by Dr. Miriam Weber, Ph.D., a senior instructor of neurology from the University of Rochester Medical Center, who conducted a study on the topic with colleague Mark Mapstone, Ph.D., assistant professor of neurology.

It feels like memory loss, but what is really happening is that information was never really encoded in the brain in the first place. Does this mean that menopausal women are now learning impaired? Nope. Everything still works. The problem doesn't lie with the brain's ability to learn, but rather with stress. Middle aged women are generally the ones who are juggling children, careers, home, and looking after aged parents. When you have so many demands on your attention in so many areas, it is much more difficult to learn new things in the first place. This all comes at a time when women aren't feeling their best because of hormonal upheaval. The answer? Exercise, stress-relieving activities, and maybe some natural supplements like natural progesterone creams or glyconutritional endocrine support supplements.

Women tend to feel guilty about taking time to look after themselves, but we can't be of service to others if our own motors go untended.

And speaking of hormone disruptions...

Clear plastics causes significant health problems. DO NOT give your baby stuff to drink in clear plastic baby bottles or sippy cups. It contains Bisphenol-A, which is now known to cause significant hormone damage . In fact, any clear container that has the #7 recycling symbol on it contains BPA, including all those bottles of "pure" water that we buy. Click on the link if you want to know more about the significant problems this chemical can cause and how to avoid it.

Lastly, I would like to draw your attention to pharmaceutical pollution. Did you know that at least 90% of the active ingredients in pharmaceuticals are not absorbed by the body? Guess where they go? They get excreted and end up in the water tables. Which means you are drinking them. Water that has been tested is showing toxicologically high levels of anti-cancer drugs, anti-microbials, anti-depressants, and anti-convulsants. I wish there was some way of telling you how to avoid this one, but there isn't. Consider finding natural means to deal with your health issues so that you are at least not adding to the problem.

Confused about Soy?

Ok, more comments are forthcoming about soy. Fermented soy is fine for you. Unfermented soy is not. Most of the soy that people consume is unfermented and full of phytates and things that are not good for your body. It is also one of the top seven most common allergens that affects people.

For those who would like to know why I think a steady diet of soy milk and soy products isn't good for you, there is plenty of research on the topic at the Weston A. Price Foundation webpage. You can also do a search on the topic on Mercola.com

Soy or No Soy?

Several people have pointed out to me that my recipe contains soy milk. And I agree, soy is not good for you, so therefore the smoothie is technically not sin free. If you have dairy allergies you can try rice milk, or make your own almond milk (1/4 cup almonds in 2 cups of water, blended and strained). Alternatively, I have also used organic yogurt and water.

Commenting -- If you want to make a comment or leave a comment then click on the time stamp at the end of any of my posts. To read the comments already posted you have to click on "post a comment". I think I messed things up there and don't know how to fix my template. Sorry Susan.

"Sinless" Chocolate Smoothies

I don't actually believe that consumption of chocolate is a sin, unless you indulge in it too much. However, the above is the title of a new recipe book I bought recently. For the most part the recipes pass muster as recipes I would consider reasonably healthy. There is no doubt that they taste good!

Here's one I tried today:

3 cups chocolate soy milk
2 frozen bananas, in chunks
10 large frozen strawberries
2 tablespoons dutch cocoa powder (the unsweetened kind)

Blend.

Now, you can fiddle with the amount of fluids you use and if you use a bit less, you can actually get something that resembles soft serve ice cream without the loads of sugar.

It will disappear fast if you have kids helping you consume it.

Did I Mention That There is Nothing New Under the Sun?

Our youth now love luxury. They have bad manners, contempt for
authority; they show disrespect for their elders and love chatter in place of
exercise; they no longer rise when elders enter the room; they contradict their
parents, chatter before company; gobble up their food and tyrannize their
teachers.

--Socrates, Fifth Century, B.C.

I Passed!

As I had predicted, I didn't have a problem with my stress test today. They hooked me up to all kinds of wires, stuck me on a treadmill and worked me up to a run. My heart worked at 98% of its capacity and the whole time my blood pressure and everything else was fine. No chest pains, shortness of breath, etc. Now I only have to wait 6 months for my echocardiogram. Ah the joys of socialized medicine and wait lists! Good thing I don't have a serious problem.

Oh, and I have lost 11 lbs.

Yeah for me.

Thanks to the Lord for his mercy, and thank you for all who prayed for me!

Two Words

"Found Faithful"

(the answer to what I want as an epitaph)

National Election Day in Canada

*Yawns*

Choose Your Epitaph

ep·i·taph: An inscription on a tombstone in memory of the one buried there.

Ideally, this would be a brief summary that epitomizes your life. What do you want to appear there?

I am not being morbid. Rather I have been thinking about life goals, and in some respects an epitaph tells people if you made it to the goal, or chose the right goal to aim for.

I'll tell you what I would like to be on my grave marker in a few days.

Uncharitable Christianity

My post concerning fasting netted a comment from Chrysalis concerning the uncharitable nature of the brand of Christianity that I most closely identify with.

It has to be confessed that generally speaking, RP's don't have a very good reputation when it comes to charity. Too often what we think is faithful testifying of the truth comes across as clanging cymbals and beating gongs to the recipients.

Human pride is a subtle and dangerous thing, especially when we are confessing the sins of others. The sins we humans commit against one another, especially second table commandment sins, tend to be very obvious to us. If you steal something of mine, or try to lure my husband into an illicit relationship, my offense with you is pretty clear to me. However, if you commit idolatry in your heart, it may not be as obvious to me or you. First table breaches against God are somehow easier to commit in ignorance and blindness because God, in his lovingkindness and tender mercy doesn't strike us immediately we commit them.

And so, where we are able to see these sins in ourselves and others, they need to be repented of and confessed. But, and this is a big but, we had better be sure that we are heaping dust on our heads as we do so and that genuine grief is assailing our hearts over our offenses against the Lord and each other.

Yes, Chrysalis, too often I have been prideful and uncharitable against my brothers and sisters in the Church who are of different beliefs and practices, but truly still God's children. Hence the need to fast and humble myself before God and plead for His mercy and grace and more light to confess my own sins. I also need to learn to exhibit more charity. I have been guilty of thinking myself in the same class as a Martin Luther and thought that this gave me license trample upon bruised reeds and pour water on smoking flaxes. God forgive me. And may those who were the recipients of my misguided zeal forgive me as well.

At the same time, I sincerely pray that I am not seduced by a desire for your approval or the approval of others so that I commit a greater sin and not say what I perceive to be the truth. I am under no illusion that RP's have cornered the market on truth as I write this. All of us will have our theological kinks worked out of us when we finally meet the Master.

God help us.

Submitted with fear and trembling.

A Hymn

O God of earth and altar
Bow down and hear our cry,
Our earthly rulers falter,
Our people drift and die;
The walls of gold entomb us
The swords of scorn divide,
Take not thy thunder from us,
But take away our pride.

From all that terror teaches,
From lies of tongue and pen,
From all the easy speeches
That comfort cruel men,
From sale and profanation
Of honor and the sword,
From sleep and from damnation,
Deliver us, good Lord.

Tie in a living tether
The prince, [elder], and thrall,
Bind all our lives together,
Smite us and save us all;
In ire and exultation
Aflame with faith and free,
Lift up a living nation,
A single sword to thee.

by G.K. Chesterton with slight editing by yours truly

Days of Fasting and Days of Thanksgiving

In preparation for the fast that our societies will be involved in, I am reading material this week to prepare my heart and mind. In reading over this particular set of minutes, I was struck by how nothing is new under the sun...

MINUTES
OF THE
REFORMED PRESBYTERY.
2732 BROWN STREET, PHILADELPHIA,

June 1st, 1887, 10 o'clock, A.M.Presbytery met according to adjournment, and was opened with prayer by the Moderator. Members present: Messrs. J. F. Fulton and D. Steele, ministers; with Messrs. G. Alexander, D.A. Renfrew, and R. Alexander, ruling elders.[1]

Days of Fasting and Thanksgiving had been observed by all our people.

The Commissioner's report was satisfactory, and the Commission continued. The report of Messrs. G. Alexander and H.M. Hartzell on Miss Jane Young's donation was accepted and approved.

The Committee on the Signs of Times reported, accepted, and having been considered by paragraphs, adopted. It is as follows:

CAUSES OF FASTING.
In taking a view of the different departments of society, we may say with the Psalmist, "All the foundations of the earth are out of course." The complaint of the prophet is still true, "There is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land."

The evils which we have hitherto lamented have not been removed, but are greatly aggravated by their continuance and increase. We note the following in the Family, the Church, and the State:

1. Even professed Christians utterly disregard the law of God in entering into the marriage relation. Indeed there is scarcely anything that so arouses the enmity of the carnal heart to the Divine law as a faithful endeavor to expound its teaching in this matter. Like the "sons of God" before the flood, they take them wives of all which they choose. Neither their own eternal welfare, nor that of their offspring, nor the authority of their Redeemer avails to counteract their wilfulness in this matter, fraught with so much good or evil to themselves and the Church of Christ. Even the dictates of common sense are disregarded in marrying those of whose character and disposition they know nothing. The consequences of such folly are seen in desertions and divorces, embittering not only the lives of the parties themselves, but marring the peace of those connected with them.

As marriage is entered into by too many without any regard to prudence or duty, as far as the parties themselves are concerned, so there is less attention paid to the great end for which marriage was instituted, the training of children in the knowledge and practice of their duty to God. It is to be feared that the duty of gaining the knowledge necessary to instruct their offspring is seldom, if ever, thought of by those entering into that solemn relation. As a necessary result, their children grow up in ignorance of their duties as members of the Family, of the Church, and of the State.

No doctrine is more clearly taught in the Bible than that the man is the head of the woman. All the nations of the earth, with one consent, show the work of the law written on their hearts, by embodying this Scriptural principle in their laws, though fearfully corrupted by their lusts and tyranny.

The tendency of modern teaching and legislation is to render the family a headless monster, and to unfit it for the great ends of its institution. We believe this teaching to be one of the fruitful sources of alienation of affection between husband and wife, family contentions, and insubordination; thus making the Scriptural training of children impossible. This and all similar sentiments spring from the conception that it is disgraceful to be in subjection to anyone, and that our true dignity and happiness consist in being entirely free from control—a thought coming from the father of lies.

That authority which others have over us is a ray of the Divine majesty, and in obeying them we obey God himself. A great part of our duty to him consists in the performance of the several duties we owe to others in our different places and relations. He has said, "Them that honor me, I will honor; and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed."

The want of preparation by parents to bring up their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord is naturally followed by its neglect, unconsciously making one sin the justification of another. The evils of this omission of duty are many and flagrant. A generation has grown up that know not the God of their fathers, and that are ignorant of the wonders He has performed in delivering them from Pagan, Papal, and Prelatic tyranny, and of the great Scriptural doctrines those worthies sealed with their blood. "That the soul be without knowledge, it is not good."
Parents are the natural instructors of their children, and it is an irreparable loss to a child when his parents neglect this duty. No instructions take such deep root in his heart as those of his father and mother. Especially is this true of a mother's teaching. Her strong love for her offspring, and their reciprocal affection, are peculiarly calculated to make a deeper impression. How often has the collection of a mother's love and a mother's teaching and prayers brought tears to the eyes of the most hardened criminal!

History shows that many of those who were pre-eminent for good or evil, owed their pre-eminence to their mothers. What a vast amount of good came to Israel through the prayers of pious Hannah! When the mother of Augustine lamented to Ambrose the evil course her son was pursuing, he replied that "he never saw the son of so many prayers given up." Augustine still instructs the Church by his writings, which are quoted with respect by that prince of divines, John Owen.

It is to be lamented that so many mothers, instead of being "keepers at home," and "guiding their houses," neglect these duties to engage in questionable "Moral Reforms" of different kinds, thus leaving their families without that constant inspection which they need. If they would faithfully perform their duties, their children would rise up and call them blessed, and would be prepared to take their places either as private members or office-bearers in the Church.

Parental discipline is greatly neglected, and the use of the rod, the divinely appointed means of driving folly out of the heart of the child, is decried. As soon as the child is able he is permitted "to run the streets," to associate with the vicious, and to learn their language and ways, and thus in his tender years he is schooled in vice. As he advances in years, he more and more disregards parental authority, until finally he sets it at defiance. Being thus early left to his own lusts, it is not strange that he soon begins to frequent the saloon and other dens of iniquity, and is ruined in soul and body. Thus, whilst many are making a great outcry against the saloon, the same persons by the way they train their children are continually furnishing it with victims.

2. The want of Scriptural training in the family has produced its disastrous effects on the Church, in her doctrine, worship, government, and discipline. The members of the Church, having been brought up in ignorance of these things, are easily "carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in weight to deceive." The sentiment that a man must know himself to be regenerated before he can become a member of the Church, is clear evidence that the teaching of our fathers is forgotten. They warned us against "shifting the terms of communion from agreement in doctrine and practice to the supposed goodness of persons." The Lord Jesus Christ never made that a term of communion in the visible Church of which her officers are incompetent to judge. He claims it as His own prerogative to search the heart. "All the Churches shall know that I am He which searcheth the reins and hearts."

Funeral sermons are a great snare to the ministry, and in many ways hurtful to those who hear them. When a so-called minister of the Gospel encourages surviving relatives to hope that the dead who died a drunkard has gone to heaven, what but infidelity can result from such teaching? The Holy Spirit says, "No drunkard shall enter the kingdom of heaven;" yet one professing to be a minister of the Gospel encourages his hearers to hope that this is not true. How wretched the condition of the people who entrust themselves to such guides!

Although all do not run to the same excess, yet by their fulsome eulogies of the dead, ascribing qualities to them they never possessed, and by their asserting that those who during their life gave little evidence of the power of godliness are gone to heaven, they "sow pillows under all armholes," and encourage men to live under the form of godliness without its power.

These so-called funeral sermons are a relict of heathenism, which taught that the dead could not rest in their graves until certain religious ceremonies were performed in their behalf. It is manifest that funeral services are sought for by surviving friends under the thought that they are, in some way, necessary to the eternal happiness of the deceased. It should be enough for all lovers of truth to know that these ceremonies about the dead symbolize with popery, which is heathenism baptized with the Christian name.

The invention and introduction of the Sunday or Sabbath-school has greatly corrupted the Church. Of this evil many sober Christians of different denominations have become thoroughly convinced. A member of the regular Baptist order has said, "The Sunday-school is the theatre in disguise." A minister of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church has expressed the wish, "That all Sunday-school literature and libraries were committed to the flames." And we have no doubt that when Paul's doctrine returns to the Church, those books of curious arts, which cost more that fifty thousand pieces of silver, will be deemed suitable fuel for a greater conflagration than the bonfire at Ephesus.

We consider all existing voluntary associations, proposing remedies for acknowledged social disorders; such as temperance, national reform, etc., usually recommended by the word Christian, as being of the same tendency as the Sunday-school.

3. As is the character of the Family and of the Church, such will be that of the State.
The general demand by all parties for "Civil Service Reform," loudly proclaims the popular sense of awful demoralization in the State. The official representatives in the several departments of the National and State governments, exhibit the moral character of their constituency.
In the common newspaper may be read every morning accounts of breach of trust, bribery, embezzlement, robbery; and sometimes robbers are so bold as to attack trains in motion, and make a prey of both life and property.

Frequent conflicts arise between employees and employers, betray want of mutual confidence. The foregoing we consider as precursors of Socialism and Anarchy.

We view earthquakes, cyclones, fire and flood, destroying life and property, in city and country, in forest and prairie, as indications of the Divine displeasure against our social sins. We believe that the only effectual remedy for our individual, social, and moral maladies is provided in the moral law and covenant of grace. These clearly expounded and faithfully applied by a Gospel ministry, seconded by a Scriptural magistracy, with the blessing of God, will exalt the Mediator to be the head of the nations, and bring all ranks to dutiful subjection to his authority.
CAUSES OF THANKSGIVING.

We have cause of thankfulness to God that while moral disorders lamentably prevail among our guilty race, all the children of Zion are invited to be joyful in their King, "who rules in the midst of His enemies, making the wrath of man to praise Him and restraining the remnant of His wrath."

We thank God for having made known to us that federal compact between the Father and the Son, with the concurrence of the Holy Ghost, whereby sinners of mankind may be delivered front the legal, penal, and moral consequences of our fall in Adam.

We bless our Heavenly Father for selecting and appointing His only begotten Son to be our Redeemer, our Goel, or near kinsman, that "we might be made the righteousness of God in Him," and might become members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones—"Complete in Him who is the head of all principality and power."

We praise our God for founding Zion, organizing a visible church on earth, incorporated under a covenant charter, furnished with all officers and ordinances requisite as means for the salvation of His people; and that we, though "a wasted remnant," are still in the possession and enjoyment of these inestimable privileges.

We desire to be thankful, moreover, that God still raises some witnesses to lift up their voices against the inventions of men, who through "good intent" deface His ordinances and desecrate His sanctuary.

National peace and material prosperity, furnishing abundant supplies for the sustenance of man and beast, call for grateful acknowledgment to our merciful Father and covenant God.
And, finally, we can never be sufficiently thankful to God for permitting and honoring us as a Presbytery, unitedly and publicly, with our hands lifted toward heaven, to pledge anew adherence to our Covenants, National and Solemn League at North Union, Butler Co., Pa., 1881; together with our equal adherence to the first faithful renovation of said Covenants "at Auchensaugh, near Douglas, Scotland, 1712:" knowing that "it is a snare to the man who devoureth that which is holy, and after vows to make inquiry."

The last Thursday of November next was appointed as a day of Thanksgiving, and the last Thursday of February, 1888, as a day of Fasting, by all under our care.

I Wish I Had Known This A Month Ago

The Proper Way to Cough and Sneeze

Halfway to 90

Many thanks to family and friends who sent me birthday cards, emails, and phone calls celebrating my natal day yesterday.

One of the greatest challenges of getting older, I think, is learning to do so gracefully. I have this horror of doing something or acting in a way that would make people look at me and say, "Mutton dressed like lamb."

A few months ago I went through the postpartum "bonk" of having my hair fall out by the handful. Much of what is growing in around the edges is coming back in silver. To color, or not to color: that is the question. For now, I have settled on not coloring. Part of this is laziness and a wish not to poison myself with chemicals absorbed through my scalp, and part of this is the desire to get comfortable with getting older.

At the same time I am learning to make peace with grey hair and new lines on my face, I am also trying not to fall into complacency and just letting myself go. Did I mention the shiny new elliptical machine in my basement? Now that my coughing is practically nonexistant and I can take a breath without hacking and turning blue, I think I'll be able to get on it and start walking off the extra poundage that I have acquired throught the years. This recent bout of illness has been helpful in that it helped me to get off the sugar, yeast and wheat -- all things that make me "fluffy."

I'm not sure how 45 is supposed to feel. In some ways I feel like I have been this age forever, and in other ways I still feel like a naive 18 year old who still has a lot to learn. I have accumulated a lot of regrets over the years -- duties left undone, things done that should have been left undone, and I woke with the desire to pray and ask God for forgiveness for all my failings and grace to help me through my remaining days. This Psalm came to mind:

Psalm 32

Blessed is he whose
transgression is forgiven,
Whose sin is covered.
Blessed is the man to whom
the LORD does not impute iniquity
And in whose spirit there is no deceit.

When I kept silent, my bones
grew old
Through my groaning all the
day long.
For day and night Your hand
was heavy upon me:
My vitality was turned into
the drought of summer [Selah.]
I acknowledge my sin to You
And my iniquity I have
not hidden.
I said, "I will confess my
transgressions to the LORD."
And You forgave the iniquity of
my sin. [Selah]

For this cause everyone who is
godly shall pray to You
In a time when You may be
found;
Surely in a flood of great
waters
They shall not come near him.
You are my hiding place;
You shall preserve me from
trouble;
You shall surround me with
songs of deliverance.

I will instruct you and teach
you in the way you should go;
I will guide you with My eye.
Do not be like the horse
or like the mule,
Which have no understanding,
Which must be harnessed with
bit and bridle.
Else they will not come near you.

Many sorrows shall be to the
wicked;
But he who trusts in the LORD,
mercy shall surround him.
Be glad in the LORD and rejoice,
you righteous;
And shout for joy,
all you upright in heart!


Here's to another year, Lord willing. May I not be a horse or an ass in it.

I'm a Proud Big Jar Mayonnaise Mama!

You can (and should) be a Big Jar Mayonnaise Mama or Papa too!

Laughing at Shakespeare

I have been idling my time of recovery away in studying Shakespeare. I stocked up on a few movies from the library and got a few books about Shakespeare, and am all set to read my way through the plays. The fact that my boys are going to need assistance in their English study of Shakespeare for school has been my excuse for shameless indulgence.

Shakespeare alternately amazes and repels me. Some of the subject matter is sublime, much of it ridiculous, and in other places indecent and brings a blush to my matronly cheeks. (There are some obscure and anachronistic terms that I will NOT be interpreting into modern patois for the boys!) The plot lines are improbable and at the same time reveal a startling insight into human nature. And is he ever hard to pin down. It is amusing to hear Shakespearean scholars pontificate about what Shakespeare meant by this or that only to have the next scholar come along and contradict the first. In the end, I don't think you can make Shakespeare a spokesman for any school of thought or the Elizabethan age in the same way Bob Dylan refused to be the spokesman for his generation. I have heard some people claim that he was a great Christian. And then I read some of the bawdy language and have no doubt that this was one of the things that led to the Puritans shutting down the theatres. Was he nihilistic? Realistic? Hopelessly romantic? Depressed? Hard to say. We don't have any of his writings on his own personal thoughts about things and I would greatly hesitate at making his plays or sonnets speak for his actual state of mind or personal opinion on anything. How nice it would be to find a detailed diary that would actually tell us that. Imagine if computers and blogs were around at the time he lived!

All the while I have been reading through some of the plays, especially the tragedies, I have had this Monty Pythonesque desire to do a parody of some of them. Apparently I am not the only one who has had this desire. Some of my most enjoyable moments have come from reading what others have said and done to Shakespeare. Witness:

~ When Big Pharma was an infant in the '70's, one of the enterprising pharmaceutical companies sought to combine the profundity of Shakespeare with a marketing strategy for tranquilizers. They psycho-analyzed the personality disorders of the likes of Lady MacBeth, Hamlet, and Ophelia. Apparently Ophelia's madness and subsequent suicide was more the result of a lack of tranqulizers and psychotherapy than the fact that her lover had violently rejected her and stabbed her father to death.

Of course, if Lady MacBeth had been tranquilized, she might not have dwelt on her guilt over urging her husband to murder Duncan. And then Shakespeare wouldn't have needed to write the play.

~ Shakespeare is beloved, not only by the nations of English speakers, but his plays have been translated into many languages and played in remote places like African huts. The Japanese are no slackers when it comes to admiration for the Bard. Some of Shakespeare's plays translated back into English from Japanese read as follows:

Strange Affair of the Flesh and the Bosom
(The Merchant of Venice)

Lust and Dreams of the Transitory World
(Romeo and Juliet)

Swords of Freedom
(Julius Caesar)

The Oar Well Accustomed to the Water
(All's Well That Ends Well)

and my favorite...

A Sad Case of Early Retirement
(King Lear)

Of course, not everyone was or is an admirer of Shakespeare. Mark Twain is one notable example. He said on one occasion:

"I feel that our fetish [with Shakespeare] is safe for three centuries yet. The bust too -- there in the Stratford Church. The precious bust, the calm bust, the serene bust, the emotionless bust, with the dandy mustache and the putty face, unseamed of care -- the face which looked passionlessly down upon the awed pilgrims for a hundred and fifty years, and will still look down upon the awed pilgrims three hundred more, with the deep, deep, deep, subtle, subtle, subtle expression of a bladder."

The urge to parody Shakespeare's tragedies is not new. Some of the nineteenth century music halls did a lot of business making fun of Hamlet:

Hamlet the Ravin' Prince of Denmark!! or the Baltic Swell!! And the Diving Belle!! A Burlesque Extravaganza in Three Acts

Hamlet a la Mode

Hamlet the Hysterical: A Delirium in Five Spasms

Apparently this was too much for humorist P.G. Wodehouse who wrote

I went into a music-hall but soon came out of it
On seeing some comedians in a painful "Hamlet" skit
And a gentleman who gave some imitations, all alone
Of other people's Hamlets, plus a Hamlet of his own.
It's "Hamlet" this and "Hamlet" that,
And Hamlet day by day.
Shakespeare and Bacon must regret they ever wrote the play.

Then there is the "skinhead" version of Hamlet which reduces a play that was originally about 4 hours long down to four pages. Here, in skinhead vernacular (with appropriate bleeping inserted by me), is Claudius's response to a play-within-a-play:

1 Player: Full thirty times hath Phoebus' cart
Claudius: I'll be ****** if I watch any more of this crap!

And in the final act when Fortinbras enters to find Hamlet, his mother, Claudius and Laertes dead:

Fortinbras: What the ******* is going on here?
Horatio: A ****** mess, that's for sure.
Fortinbras: No kidding. I see Hamlet's *******.
Horatio: Yer.
Fortinbras: ******* shame. ******* good bloke.
Horatio: Too ******* right.
Fortinbras: ******* this for a lark then. Let's piss off.
(Exeunt with alarums.)

Even Prince Charles has taken a stab at reproducing Hamlet's famous "to be or not to be" speech into the common vernacular of our day.

"Well, frankly, the problem as I see it
At this moment in time is whether I
Should just lie down under all this hassle
And let them walk all over me,
Or, whether I should just say, "OK,
I get the message," and do myself in.
I mean, let's face it, I'm in a no-win
Situation, and quite honestly,
I'm so stuffed up to here with the whole
Stupid mess that, I can tell you, I've just
Got a good mind to take the quick way out.
That's the bottom line. The only problem is:
What happens if I find out that when I 've bumped
Myself off, there's some kind of a, you know,
All that mystical stuff about when you die,
You might find you're still -- know what I mean?"

Anyhow, I'm having fun with all this Shakespeare stuff and enjoying most of the videos that I have been able to track down.

By the way, all the quotes from above have come from the book The Friendly Shakespeare: A Thoroughly Painless Guide to the Best of the Bard by Norrie Epstein.

Now tell me: Which is your favorite play or movie version of a Shakespeare play?

Nearly There

We are almost at the end of the holiday madness and we managed to survive it despite the death rattle cough. What started out as a viral infection took on a secondary bacterial infection in moi. For a week or so I have been coughing up dark green gunk from my left bronchial tree and tightening my abs in the process. I am nearly done with the cough though and I am VERY PROUD to say that I did it without antibiotics! Gotta love them herbs and glyconutrients. At times when I was up in the wee small hours of the night feeling like the top of my head was going to part company with the rest of my frame with each cough, I briefly contemplated breaking down and getting some antibiotics. However, the knowledge of the aftermath that abx cause held me firm to my path and I merely had another hot bath so I could snuff up some warm moist air. I also eschewed the dubious comforts of Tylenol and its generic cousins in favor of letting my body's own defense mechanism of fever free reign to kill the pathogens wreaking havoc in my lungs. I woke in the middle of the night when my fever broke to find I had drenched my nighty. After that happened, it was like a switch going on in terms of feeling better.

I hadn't planned on taking time off around the ho ho season with the schooling, but this most recent bout of illness put the kybosh on that. I will continue to take it easy for another few days as I slowly regain lost ground in housecleaning and by Monday I should be back in fighting trim again.

I'm not posting any details, but if he is brought to mind, please say a prayer on behalf of my son, Nathanael.

Something is Different, but I Don't Know What or Why

The past few weeks have been instructive ones. For one thing, I have had confirmed in a personal way how big a toll emotional angst can take on one, mostly by losing a lot of it. Spinning one's wheels is a fruitless activity that consumes a lot of emotional, mental, and physical energy. Remove the spinning wheels, and all of a sudden you have energy you didnt' know you had for other things.

I know I am not alone in this ~ so much of my drive to do things is driven by what "they" will think or say. Who "they" are I haven't yet determined. It is like I have this judge and jury in my head composed of a number of friends, family, church members, and other significant others who are waiting to pounce on my every mistake. I realize how ridiculous this is as I write it, because while there has been the odd person here and there who has been critical, it is mostly been from people I don't know well and care even less about.

Some things have changed in my head without me having to work at it. This was an unasked for grace. I have been able to see what my priorities clearly are and this has enabled me to determine what is important and worth spending time on and what is not important and which can afford to wait.

First priority: My relationship with God. More prayer and meditation on God's Word has been happening. Funny thing about my "episode". When everyone else was freaking out about the possibility of imminent death, it hasn't troubled me. I don't claim responsibility for this. God has worked in me to such an extent that while death remains an enemy, it isn't one I fear.

Second priority: My family. My kids are growing and will be gone sooner than I think. I'll never be able to have as much impact on them as I am now while they are still under my roof. All of a sudden homeschooling isn't the chore it was before. Instead it is a way to keep contact with my kids. Looks like I won't be using the Christian school next year. My husband needs taking care of. He's the only one I have and likely to be the only one I will ever have.

Third priority: Everyone and everything else. As important as it is to do good works (as the result, not the cause of salvation), everyone else has to take a backseat to the first two items. Not that I didn't already know this.

Here's what is funny: I have stressed less over messes in the house. The messes are disappearing and I am able to keep up with most of everything.

I am not stressing over the homeschooling, and now all of a sudden it is getting done in a timely and satisfactory manner.

Business is good. I am seeing a steady stream of clients but if they don't show up, well that means more time for other things.

I am content. I still have my ambitions, but I don't have this desperate need to beat the clock as far as getting them done. Naturopathic school will still be waiting for me when the times comes that I can devote my energies to it. In the meantime, I have plenty of good solid work and studies to keep me occupied.

I want to end this post on a note of apology. I have been aware for some time that a number of young women and mothers have looked at me like I was some sort of example to follow -- maybe not in terms of levels of sanctification, but perhaps in levels of sheer activity. For that I am sorry. I would hate for anyone to think that one must always be going, going, going in order to accomplish things of any worth or that the standard of godly womanhood was measured by how much laundry you get done in a day. As important as it can be to do, it is just as important just to be.

Calvin Must Be Spinning

In the country that was formerly one of the cradles of Reformation, thanks to the likes of John Calvin, we now learn that one of the Swiss hospitals in Lausanne will be allowing an organization, which is in favor of assisted suicide, to help terminally ill patients to end their own lives.

The hospital will not accept people whose only goal in entering "is to prepare to
end his life," said Alberto Crespo, who is responsible for law and ethics at the
hospital. "The purpose of a hospitalization remains therapeutic treatment."

Riiiiiiiight....