Proverbs 19:21

I struggled a bit with last Sunday’s Bible verse, Romans 12:12. It included the words joyful, patient, faithful, hope, affliction, and prayer. It took me a while to put the right words together; I always have to use some tricks to remember stuff like that. Joyful and hope both have the letter O, so they make “joyful in hope”. Faithful and prayer immediately remind me of - well - my faith, which leaves patient and affliction. That’s how my mind works.

This week?

            Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails. (Proverbs 19:21, New International Version)

 I just have to get all those words beginning with a P in the proper place. 

 

Flashback Friday, January 2014

     As often happens, I have so many ideas to write about and instead of writing about them, I waste a bunch of time watching YouTube videos of puppies or clips of the Friends sitcom. Last night, I wasted time scrolling through old photos, under the guise of deleting those deemed dumb.

January 2014, just ten years ago. I took a whole bunch of pictures of the snow in our yard. There was even more snow in February and March, but I thought I should focus on this month.  

Ten years ago (and pretty much every year, from last year to 60 years ago), we had more snow on the ground than we have today. I won’t take a picture of today, as it is just too depressing. I can’t say I love having snow on the ground six months out of the year, but we have to have some in the yard for at least a couple months. We just have to. 

Romans 12:12

Last Sunday, I posted Matthew 11:28 and went over it several times a day. I have memorized it – for now. We’ll see if it’s still in my head six months from now. How about you? Did you try committing it to memory.

This week, let’s let our hope keep us joyful, let’s be patient when we have troubles, and let’s pray at all times.

Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. (Romans 12:12, New International Version)

 

Flashback Friday to a Turtle

     This blog post come up on memories on Facebook the other day, and I thought it was worth sharing.

One afternoon, while cleaning out the linen closet, I came across this great find.

Her name is Mrs. Tuttle. Yes, she is a little ratty but at 55 plus years old, I think she is managing. The story, as I remember it, is that my sister Pat and I were spending the night in Wausau with our much older sister. Judy is 15 years older than me and was working at a bank and living in an apartment building which is long gone. She bought me and Pat each a stuffed animal. Mine was the turtle and Pat’s – well it really wasn’t a stuffed animal.

It was a hideous plastic snake. If you can picture a Hawaiian lei where the flowers are four inches in diameter but flat and green, white or yellow thick plastic, and when spread out this thing is five feet long, that is pretty close to what that thing looked like. Hideous.  I don’t remember what Pat named the snake, but it had many adventures with Mrs. Tuttle and our other stuffed friends. 

I have a picture of that snake somewhere. I’ll have to try to find it. 

Matthew 11:28

 On Wednesday, I wrote a little bit about resolutions, mostly about how people break them within a few weeks. And here we are two weeks into the new year.

I can’t say that this is a resolution I’ve ever had, but I’ve always wanted to memorize more Bible verses. Sure, I know the 23^rd Psalm and John 3:16. I know quite a few more, but I can never remember the exact book they come from or which verse number they are.

Like “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.” Probably a bad example as nearly the same verse is in four different books of the Bible – Deuteronomy, Joshua, 1 Chronicles, and 2 Chronicles.

Anyway, this is what I’m going to do for the next few weeks. Share a Bible verse which you may be familiar with and work on memorizing it over the next week.

     “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28, New International Version)

I’ll let you know how I did next Sunday.

What do you resolve to do this year?

    Does anyone make New Year’s Resolutions anymore? I haven’t seen any posted online from anyone, and no one has mentioned theirs to me. Have those ol’ resolutions gone the way of the rotary phone and rabbit ears on the console TV?

So, maybe many of us could stand to lose some weight, exercise more and eat healthier. Maybe we should watch our language and go to church more often. Are there any other resolutions that are always broken by the tenth of January?

How about this instead – just be kind. Be kind to your family and friends, to your co-workers, and to those who wait on you at the fast-food place (where you broke your first resolution as quickly as Secretariat won the Belmont Stakes). Maybe be kind to strangers.

Open doors for people you don’t know, offer to shovel your neighbor’s sidewalk, and shop locally to support small businesses. Umm? What else? Mail a thinking-of-you card to someone you missed on the Christmas card list.

And stop talking smack about other people, whether they are someone who personally did you wrong or someone running for public office. I think we all could make a resolution to avoid listening to the news until the presidential election is over. Don’t even get me started.

So, be kind. Be gentle. Be loving and caring. And not only towards others, but towards yourself as well. 

May the Lord reward you well for the kindness you have shown me today. (1 Samuel 24:19, New Living Translation)

I myself have gained much joy and comfort from your love, my brother, because your kindness has so often refreshed the hearts of God’s people. (Philemon 7, Living Bible)

A Visit from the Wisemen

        After the wise men heard the king, they left. The star that they had seen in the east went before them until it stopped above the place where the child was. When the wise men saw the star, they were filled with joy. They came to the house where the child was and saw him with his mother, Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. They opened their gifts and gave him treasures of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. (Matthew 2:9-11, New Century Version)

In the Christian church, January 6 commemorates the visit of the Wisemen.

We always picture these men arriving on camels and wearing exotic clothing and robes. There’s always three of them, and they show up at the stable along with the shepherds.

Bible scholars pretty much agree that the Magi didn’t arrive at the time of Jesus’ birth. It could have been anywhere from a few weeks to a few years before they showed up. They had followed that star all the way from somewhere in the East and who knows how long that took them.

Everyone assumes that because they brought three gifts, there must have been three of them. There could have been twelve wise guys coming to visit Jesus, or only two. It doesn’t matter. What matters is that they brought gifts and bowed down to worship the young Christ child.

Since the Wisemen were not Jewish, their visit is more important than just the gifts they brought to the Savior. They represent the Gentiles – the non-Jews – so they signify that Jesus came to save everyone, not just the Jewish people.

Two and a half months later

I wasn’t going to write a blog today. Still recovering from the Holidays. Then I looked back and realized that I never told you anything else about the few days I spent at an AirBnb with my friend back in October. And here we are two and a half months later. 

 The first day we bombed around Ladysmith, as I blogged about a while back.

 Our second day at the cabin it rained a lot, but we were still able to get out and explore a bit.

 Chequamegon Waters Flowage. It was gloomy and foggy that morning, but I still used the creative setting on my camera for this one. 

Next we drove to Gilman, explored this park, crossed all three bridges, walked past the Gilman Cheese Factory (the only place happening in this town), drove through the campground, and tried our best to figure out what was going on with the garbage can.  

Then the gloom and mist turned to a torrential rain and we were done exploring for the day. We still had a lot of fun.

Inflammation and the Diet to Subdue It.

            In my blog post this past Sunday, I mentioned I had started an anti-inflammatory diet. Two of you commented that you’d like to hear more about that, so I would like to oblige you.

           I will try to keep the background information to a minimum, but I need to share where this idea came from. Well, that’s easy, the internet, of course.

           Also, when I told my massage therapist about all of my problems, she agreed that inflammation could be the source. She gave me the name of a naturopathic provider two of her other clients had seen. 

           Enough background. And a quick disclaimer – none of what I will tell you is medical advice. Even though this practitioner gave me most of this material, you can find it all on the internet as well.

           Inflammation starts out as your body’s way of fighting infection, injury, illness, etc. It’s supposed to swoop in and help your body heal from these things. But sometimes, for whatever reason, once that inflammation is roaming around inside of you, once it has done its job, it hangs around like a creeper in a bar who has been trying to pick up women.

           However, there are certain foods that inflammation loves and certain foods that are like throwing a fire on it. 

           So, first, here are the foods on which inflammation thrives: anything with gluten, like wheat, rye, barley; anything that has been processed, such as white sugars, refined carbs, lunchmeats, and most anything out of a box; dairy, including cheese, yogurt, butter; fried foods; almost any snack you reach for while watching an episode of Stranger Things, like potato chips, cookies, cakes, etc.; most anything the family served over Christmas, you know, like the cheese and sausage tray or anything made with gravy.

           Okay, so inflammation likes pretty much every food which gives us a reason to live. And I mention the show Stranger Things because I feel like the Demogorgon is crawling around inside of me, and every time I eat anything on the bad list, he gets all excited and grows more limbs.    

           Sorry for the warped and overactive imagination.

           So, what can I eat? From the list above, you may realize that this diet is gluten-free, dairy-free, and sugar-free.

           So, load me up with oatmeal, spinach, kale, quinoa, wild rice, brown rice, chia seed, flax seed, almond milk, almond yogurt, honey, maple syrup, olive oil, coconut oil, walnuts and most other nuts except not peanuts, legumes, tomatoes, fruits especially berries, pineapple, and fatty fish like salmon, tuna, and mackerel.

            A few things like potatoes, eggs, and popcorn are kinda neutral, but you can’t put anything from the bad list on them, such as butter or anything else which makes them palatable. (Remember the air poppers from the ‘80s? You can have that popcorn without the butter.)

            Oh, boy.

           I’ve been taking Glucosamine Chondroitin with MSM for years but never really felt it was doing much. A few months ago, I started a Joint Health and Mobility supplement which includes those as well as Curcumin, Omega-3, Collagen precursors, Hyaluronic acid, and Bioperine. I still haven’t noticed much difference on all of that.

           So, this naturopath started me on a higher dose of Curcumin. She also has me on some anti-inflammatory drops, low back pain drops, and a probiotic/prebiotic, which has all the good bacteria people talk about and then some.

           All of that is well and fine, albeit expensive. Except for the apple cider vinegar she recommended I take. That stuff is the worst. Oh, my gosh, there are no words. But I mix it with some honey and water, chase every sip with more water, and get it down.

           Lastly, every morning, I drink a cup of warm water with the juice from half a lemon in it. She recommended I drink lemon in my water all day, but I like my water plain. And, yes, of course, drink plenty of water. 

           Whether any of that is working or not, I can’t tell. I have a few more good days than before, but there are still too many bad days. Over the weekend, I had two full days where I needed to walk with a cane, so those were bad days and were not acceptable to me at my age. When I’m pushing 80 and all of my hair is white, I’ll use that cane with pride, but not now.

           It’s been five weeks, so I think it’s reasonable to give it another week when I have another appointment with the naturopath. Then I can either give her a piece of my mind or be over the moon happy that by then, my pain, stiffness, achiness, and shortness of breath will magically be gone. 

            So there you have it.

 

Oh, and the picture is from when I was at Hell’s Gate in Kenya in 2017. That day, I hiked for miles and climbed up and down treacherous terrain, something I could never do today. But that’s my goal, to go hiking and climbing again.