Sunday, April 28, 2013

A Stinging Thought

Upon being stung on the hand by at least two wasps, I began to contemplate the difference between wasps and honey bees. I did a bit of Googling to learn some basic differences.

I have been saddened for some time, by the loss and the flagrant disregard of the value of our honey bees. Of course, both species have purpose, but their purposes are very different, as is their stinging ability. I knew a few facts about honey bees, but little about wasps. Honey bees are pollinators, meaning they are an essential factor in fruit and vegetable production. Honey bees, obviously, are our source of honey. I'll try not to get too technical in my explanation of honey. It is a special combination of nectar and bee spit. Only a Supreme Creator could make that combination delicious! Honey bees do sting to protect themselves or their hive, but they avoid it as best they can, as the stinger remains in their target and the loss of the stinger causes their death. Bee venom has it's values, as well, in natural health and homeopathy. I don't have a great deal of research on the subject, but bee sting therapy has been used to combat exacerbation in auto-immune diseases. I've actually used bee sting therapy in my own struggle with MS.

Wasps, I learned, are predatory and parasitic. Although they do not produce any sweetness, our Creator did make them for a purpose. They eat many garden insects that are destructive to the plants and produce. Wasps make their nests "any place" and the young larvae actually attach themselves to various spiders and insects and live off of them until they mature, then they kill their host. Wasps are necessary in their own offensive way.

The thought that continues to invasively sting me is the life cycle that we have chosen to interrupt. When YHWH gave us dominion over the earth, that didn't mean wreck it, it meant take care of it! So, here's my concern. If we continue to allow our honey bees to be attacked and destroyed by pesticides and GMO pollen, we will eventually come to a time in which artificial pollination is necessary for all vegetation. When the time comes that honey bees are extinct or so frail and mutated that they no longer function as they were created, there will be what is politically termed, "unintended consequences." I'm not so sure about the "unintended part," but that's blog material for another topic.

If there are no bees, or only mutated ones, honey will cease to exist or be "crafted" my guess is from corn syrup . . . then my next concern is a question in the event of mutated wasps. Where will mutated wasps choose to live? What will mutated wasps choose for their prey? What species will mutated wasps choose to inhabit while they grow parasitically? I'm not offering material for a strange new sci-fi movie, I'm asking serious questions.

Is it possible that the mutations humans are causing in creation will actually be a part of the pestilence prophesied in Revelation 6?

Sunday, April 21, 2013

More Tribal Notions . . .

In reading Proverbs 31, can you just see this gal, thinking all the time? I like to think, I'm always thinking. I can't help it, it's just something I enjoy, that I don't seem to be able to turn off. I listen, and when I'm listening I'm thinking about what I'm hearing, but when it's quiet, I'm still thinking. I got a notion the other day that I am excited to try. My natural remedy business is doing all right for being in operation less than a year, but I would like to give it a bit of a unique schtick. Everybody is turning to natural remedies, skin care, and cleaning supplies, so how do I offer something outstanding in this trend back to nature?

Not only is rainwater great for the garden, and the livestock, and the fish idea, but I know I've mentioned it being wonderful for my hair. We got some serious rain, here in the Ozarks the other day, and immediately the idea hit me to encorporate "rain water" in my natural hair care products! Nothing provides silky body for long hair, like rain water.
So, beginning next month, Tribally Yours, LLC will be offering hair and skin care products with rainwater. I'm not exactly sure how that is going to work just yet, but it's definitely in the R&D department.

There is simply no reason to waste any idea or any resource. It's been a long time since our nation gave that any consideration and I am excited to read about the natural remedies and the energy saving ideas. We have been blessed with many, many resources and back before programming, entrepreneurial thinking wasn't so unusual.

It's in interesting paradox to use sophisticated technology to read and share simple, natural solutions. I enjoy the internet interaction and exchange of ideas and information, knowing some day it will return to smoke signals and the sound of the shofar.

But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased. Prophecy

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

A Very Strange Reckoning

I was so sure I'd be symptom free when my last book was published. Seriously, I was sure every MS symptom would disappear when I held the book in print . . . but that isn't what happened at all. As I stood there looking at the book "Wilt Thou Be Made Whole?" I heard those same words, yet again. "My grace is sufficient." And so I swallowed hard and continued on. A lot has happened since that time and I see some amazing similarities from my last book's publishing and this time, only I'm doing things differently. This time I won't be sidetracked with the reaction or reception of another, nor will I worry about my physical body. If I continue to do what I believe YHWH has outlined for my health, all of our health, then I will continue to walk in that path, until He says otherwise. I figure it can happen one of three ways. 1. My numbered days become complete. 2. I do become symptom free. 3. I continue to do everything He strengthens me to do, in spite of symptoms, in this "disability" dependent world. Who knows? I don't have the mind of G-d. Perhaps He gets more glory out of someone that keeps on keeping on, when the popular solution is disability income. I don't know, but today I'm in a strange place and looking at it differently.

An acquaintance of mine has shared that his wife is now in long term care due to MS. She's not as old as I am! Hearing that news sent me back to my years of work in long term care when I took care of a woman who had been a resident since she was 35 years old, and ultimately spent the rest of her life in that facility. I hid the fact of my diagnosis for a number of years, and even in the case of exacerbation was literally willing to change my surroundings, rather than face the inevitable possibility; this encroaching, invading, infringing nemesis to my independence, could cause. For years, I lived as if I could outrun it . . . As it began to become obvious in my gait and I often staggered or stumbled, I truly preferred someone thought I was drunk as to know I was hosting this ailment. I wasn't ashamed of having MS, I just was sure that the day I spoke those letters personally, I would lose the battle. In my mind, speaking the words or the letters would be surrender, "giving into it," and from what I had seen, this disease casts a prolonged and grueling conquest.

Just as I was sorting through the words I wanted offer this couple, as well as contemplating some other weighty issues, my news page displayed the "breaking news" that Annette Funicello died. This compounded the unfamiliar, almost foreboding feeling that had surrounded me. I recognized all the denial I'd been trying to entertain, and I suddenly realized a completely new perspective. Rather than denial, I need to face the fact that I am experiencing symptoms and rather than attempting to outrun this malady, I need to fully embrace the grace that is sufficient. I need to admit, my body isn't in perfect condition, but it's working right now and if I pay attention, I can make some valuable adjustments that just might help. I've chosen to trust G-d with my health and that is not ignoring the problem. As a matter of fact, I've realized it's the best choice I could have made in dealing with MS.

I don't think there is anything called ambulation guilt, and I don't feel guilty for feeling good. I feel guilty for being sad about the symptoms I do have and the few and far between days that are a genuine struggle for me, when there are people who simply cannot take care of themselves any long or the disease finally wears their body out. I'm not without comfort, I'm not without The Comforter, and to be honest, I don't deserve life to be this good! I'm glad I made the choice I made regarding my health. Now I need to make sure I don't disregard my wellness or ignore the symptoms and simply follow my Healer's instructions.

And said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of YHWH thy G-d, and wilt do that which is right in His sight, and wilt give ear to His commandments, and keep all His statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am YHWH that healeth thee.