160111 Joy and Happiness

Joy in Your World

What's bringing you the most happiness in your life right now? Why is it such a good thing for you? Has it been present a long time, or is it a recent addition to your world?

Right this moment, it is hard to determine, since happiness is situational. For the first time in five years, I am fighting a cold. When I started with essential oils, certain illnesses became a thing of the past, but even these oils can't stand against a sick child who wants to rub her germs on my face. :(

On the other hand, the joy of the Lord is my strength. As I remember those things for which I am thankful, it does bring a smile to my face. My elder child is surviving adulthood. She takes care of herself more and more, and has graduated college without debt. She also has a job. The younger one, who brought me the current respiratory distress, will turn 18 this year and plans to move out of the camper ASAP. As much as I love her, I love to see her claim responsibility for her own life.

This nomadic lifestyle suits me. It sounds like the opposite of what many have proclaimed for decades, but less stuff makes the brain work better. Stuff requires care. At first, I wondered if I would miss certain things, but as I do without, I wonder why I thought I needed stuff in the first place. Yep. Doing more with less makes me happy.

160110 NO Condemnation

Romans 8:1-4
(1) There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
(2) For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
(3) For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:
(4) That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

Quoting the Word is not condemnation, it is simply restating what the rules are. Human nature, which is not from God, may make iy seem that way, and the recipient may take it that way from hidden guilt, but quoting the Word is not condemnation. God merely wants everyone to be saved.

1 Timothy 2:3-4
(3) For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour;
(4) Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.

Therefore, anyone who feels oppressed by someone quoting the Word, that oppression is not coming from God, and the person quoting may only have the recipient's best interests in mind. The only thing tricky about this comes from our Adversary, the devil, who walks about seeking whom he may devour. God doesn't trick people. He has no darkness at all.

Remember, no one can make you angry without your permission.

160109 Oily Thoughts

Since 2010, I've been using Young Living Essential Oils, and believe them to be of the most consistently high quality. After I became a distributor, I signed up for Essential Rewards. This qualified me to receive 'gifts' of oils. I have amassed quite a few of them, so did some research on possible uses, which I'm sharing now.

Oils to use, because they were free, or I bought too much of them:

Acceptance (blend):

Acceptance stimulates the mind, compelling us to open and accept new things, people, or relationships in life, allowing one to reach a higher potential. It also helps us to overcome procrastination and denial. 

(Use for low blood glucose, or when feeling pressured.)

Forgiveness (blend):

This blend helps to release hurt feelings and negative emotions. It also helps release negative memories, allowing one to move past emotional barriers and attain higher awareness, assisting the person to forgive and let go. 

(Use when upset or during high blood pressure events.)

Eucalyptus Blue

Supports respiratory function to promote normal breathing, relieves sore muscles, calming, invigorating, expectorant, diaphragmatic, insecticidal, oestrogenic, anti-fungal, antiviral, antibacterial. 

(Diffuse against Agent Em's cold.)

Ginger

Anti-inflammatory, anticoagulant, digestive aid, anesthetic, expectorant, anti-fungal; for rheumatism, digestive disorders, respiratory infections/congestion, muscular aches/pains, nausea. 

(Give to Agent Em and diffuse, because she likes it.)

Helichrysum

Anti-coagulant, anesthetic, antispasmodic, antiviral, liver detoxifies, chelates chemicals and toxins, regenerates nerves, blood clots, circulatory disorders, skin conditions. 

(Save for First Aid.)

Hung Kuai

Anti-fungal, anticancer, immune support, respiratory support. 

(Use on self to protect against Agent Em's cold.)

Idaho Blue Spruce

Antibacterial, pain relief, insecticide, antioxidant, expectorant, induces relaxation, prevents oxidation of LDL. 

(Use after physical therapy.)

Ledium

Anti-inflammatory, antitumoral, antibacterial, diuretic, liver-protection, obesity, water retention. 

(Use in conjunction with weight loss program.)

Ravintsara

Antitumoral, antiviral, antibacterial, pneumonia. 

(Use for lung infections.)

Spearmint

Obesity, intestinal/digestive disorders, nausea, hepatitis. 

(Use in conjunction with weight loss program.)

Tsuga

Respiratory conditions, kidney/urinary infections, skin conditions, VD 

(Apply to kidney area on back.)

Vetiver

ADHD, anxiety, rheumatism/arthritis, depression, insomnia, skin care. 

(Add to homemade skin cream.)

160108 Having Individual Thoughts

ThoughtPolice

It doesn't matter if I agree with Ayn Rand, the new Star Wars franchise, or an actor whose face I don't know. What's disturbing is that these social media affectionados believe that opinions need to line up with theirs or else be censored. Also disturbing is how many young people express that the Bill of Rights should be altered to exclude certain of those rights. Statistics and documentation may be available to some, but right now, I simply want to express opinions that have been formed over decades of observation, contemplation and meditation.

Our country was founded on laws and the belief that individuals have the right to think and do as they see fit. It was also based on a strong moral code that directs actions, but allows people to make their own mistakes. In general, the government did not punish moral mistakes. Even in Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, it seemed that the punishments were not legal as much as societal and/or religious.

Reader's Digest used to have a feature known as "There Outta Be a Law". It listed moral infractions by entities with power. Guess what? Forty or fifty years later, we now have a law for everything and no one is happy about it! Laws to restrain immorality seldom work. Instead of stopping the offending behavior, the offenders simply try new tactics. These "moral" laws have unintended consequences, and otherwise innocent people have become oppressed. For instance, a 1970 law meant to punish drug lords now takes money and property from families. Just do an Internet search on "asset forfeiture" and see what you find. There are far more stories than Google lists, because they filter the returns. (Ignorance is bliss, and keeps the masses quiet.) While I committed no crime, I lost property to the government. An attorney told me that it would cost close to a thousand dollars to sue to get it back, and that there were no guarantees that I would. In my distressed and destitute condition, I let it slide and thanked God that I wasn't charged with a crime for being a simple bystander.

We now have an incredible fight between legal gun owners and those who think that getting rid of guns gets rid of crime. Hmm. There certainly was no crime before guns were invented! There was no sin, no war, no evil at all! If only gunpowder had been confined to fireworks! Then all would have been sunshine and roses!

Guns, however, were invented, and Cain shot Abel. Wait! You mean that guns were not invented right out of the Garden of Eden? Well, certainly Brutus shot Caesar! No? Didn't Mongol hordes sweep across Asia with repeating rifles, or Vikings terrorize Europe with sub-machine guns?

Guns are not the problem, people. The hearts and minds of humans are. We have to guard our thoughts. We have to guard our own thoughts, because no one can do it for us. We have to be able to think for ourselves. We have to be taught right from wrong and make our individual decisions based a proven moral code. Old knowledge is not lame knowledge. We have not evolved into creatures that don't need a moral compass. Everything said has been said before. Everything done has been done before. Humans are no different today than they were thousands of years ago. Only the names have been changed to perpetuate the myth of progress.

Is there no hope? No trend is irreversible. In fact, all life runs in cycles, (or circles). Humanity is approaching winter, when everything looks dead and dying. Spring follows winter. People try to say that if we never had this or that event, that we would be enjoying a Star Trek like paradise. This is foolishness. The world never settles for peace. Remember the 'peace dividend' that we were supposed to have after the Berlin Wall fell? It turned into the first Gulf War. Material prosperity leads to discontent. It will get better, and it will get worse, and then better and worse again and again until time stops.

This is why we need the free exchange of differing ideas. And guns. Guns provide the tool that allows the weak to be able to defend against the strong. Instead of worrying and/or yelling, enjoy whatever true, honest, just, pure, lovely, good, or virtuous things you find. Keep them in your mind, and let others think their own thoughts. That's true freedom.

160107 Unsafe and Insecure

Ten-Year-Old Girl

Flying used to be fun. No matter what the occasion, I calculate what it would cost to drive verses taking the bus or a train or a boat. I refuse to fly. I have no fear of flying, but like the man said, TSA makes law-abiding citizens feel unsafe and insecure. Our freedoms are attacked on so many fronts that it is impossible to list them all, and fighting even one of them on "their" terms spells defeat for logic and valor.

Instead, trust God. God sees and God knows. All that we humans see and know of this world is temporary. God is permanent. Last night, my daughters and I heard a teaching on the concept of a covenant, a binding contract. Basically, if God said it, that settles it. Do you know what God said? The example in this teaching centered on Abram. God made a covenant with him, and changed his name to Abraham.

When God told Abraham that he would be the father of many nations, he was already old! It took another twenty-five long years, before Abraham finally had a child with Sarah, his wife! Sarah, that poor, dear lady, was ninety when Isaac was born! Then, their child had only two sons. Abraham never saw anything other than apparently infertility, yet he still obeyed God.

James 2:23
(23)  And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God.

Romans 4:3

(3)  For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.

Israel became a nation, but they ran into trouble and never became as numerous as the stars nor as many as sand on the beach. That started to happen two thousand years later. Christ came, and it became possible to be born again. Because Abraham believed, he became the Father of all who believe. Romans Chapter 4 discusses this completely, but this verse states it concisely:

Romans 4:11

(11)  And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised: that he might be the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised; that righteousness might be imputed unto them also:

 

How many have believed and been born again! Add that to all those who are actual, physical descendants of this one man. Do their numbers not compete with the number of stars visible from Earth? Would they not seem as numerous as the grains of sand on a beach? Won't Abraham be blessed at seeing all of us?

What about your life? Time doesn't end here. Time will not end until God says it does. What happens after you die? The world talks of a famous person's legacy. Every president wants to be remembered for something, but whose memory really counts? God had the power to bless us beyond anything we can ask or think, and has promised in His Word that evil will result in nothing. He gave us our own contract, our own covenant. It's in His Word. 

2 Corinthians 9:8

(8)  And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work:

1 Thessalonians 1:10

(10)  And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.

We are to be blessed now and in the future. The hassles of today are temporary. The TSA is temporary. Persecutions, whether immediate or merely perceived, cannot stand against God. God protects us and will protect us from evil. Know what God will do. Claim it for yourself. It's in the contract. 

160103 Gambling

While I was with my in-laws, I learned a new card game that used a special deck and puns. Off hand, I can't tell you what the name is nor what it is like. I don't even remember all the rules! If I can, I'll post a picture of it. Right this instant, that game seems to be a symbol for my life. From childhood, I have played card games. A deck of cards is inexpensive entertainment and can teach a child many of the rules of math and arithmetic. I am sure that my math skills are related to all that early practice. My father lead many of the games, because when he was a young adult, he had earned extra money from cards and pool. My mother also had an aptitude for cards. They started playing cards with my siblings and I as soon as we could hold the cards in our hands without dropping them. I could not imagine a household without several decks of cards until I was married. My ex did not play cards, but it seems that our younger daughter inherited my skill with them.

My sister-in-law and her adult daughter were excited about this game and my daughter and I wanted to play. I asked for clarification of the rules. Suddenly the way to win was clear, so I planned my coup and easily won. No one wants to play me in cards anymore. No one wants to play me in backgammon, either. During one backgammon game, my opponent told me that with my skills, I should go to Vegas. Once in a bar, I did meet a gambler who enticed me into a game. After I won, he told me that he had never seen anyone throw the dice like I did, and then admonished me for not betting more. I really didn't like risking MY money like that. The gambler owed me money he didn't have and failed to pay. The act of gambling left a bad taste in my mouth, and the creepy, slimy company didn't help. My dad doesn't say much about his gambling days, but I know that he now has a very low opinion of the profession.

Why do I consider this card game to be a symbol for my life? I am very good at some things. I am not average. I can be phenomenal, but sometimes the associated costs become too high. I am an excellent worker, but I'm not good with people. I won't lie, even about the little things. I show exceptional talent for pissing off customers, especially when I'm trying to be nice. Today, the only jobs available seem to be service related, because all my technical skills are out of date. I rejected more schooling, because I don't have the money and don't qualify for grants and scholarships. (I checked all I could find.) My age and physical limitations narrow the already narrow field. I didn't reject even retail. Employers rejected me. Did I get an unacceptable score on their repetitive personality tests that take an hour to complete? Was I the wrong ethnicity? Did I wear mismatched clothing? It's a good thing that I own my own dwelling and that my needs are few, because I refuse to apply for government assistance.

Sometimes, I really wish that life were as easy as a mathematical equation -- or a card game.

160102 Back In Black

On Sunday, December 20th, I got the call. My Second Mother had died. I dropped everything and drove 1500 miles (2400 kilometers). We packed all the wrong clothing and didn't sleep. We couldn't sleep there, either. My bed was a two-seat settee in the living room, and the house temperature was set at 75F (24C).

I enjoyed seeing my sister-in-law, because we had always been good friends. My fil was a wreck. Often, parents age beyond their ability to be stronger and sharper than their children. Children don't like to see this. Parents feel distress about this as well. They were married for seventy-five years, so I don't expect him to live much longer. I am putting money aside for another 3000 mile round trip.

My seventeen-year-old went with me, because she had to. My adult child cried because she couldn't go. She remembers her father's parents with fondness, but at three weeks to graduation, she couldn't just take off and expect to make up the school work in time.

Before we left, my sister called to say that a huge storm had hit Texas and was travelling towards us. It had already caused newsworthy damage in Dallas. Before we had gone two hundred miles, it caused ice storms in Memphis, Tennessee. We had intended to return that way, so quickly devised a different route. We continued south, because the storm was wedge shaped. The leading edge was north of us. As we continued south, we avoided it. I drove without stopping much, sleeping for an hour or two whenever I felt tired, then continuing south. We reached Mississippi about midnight the next day and slept. The storm woke me about 2:30 am, but it was almost nothing that far south. I'd seen worse rain and wind in a spring shower in Texas. When day came, we had sunshine. It seemed to take forever to cross Louisiana. We crossed into Texas at sunset and cheered. I slept an hour or so in Beaumont and started driving again at midnight. We raced through downtown Houston at the absolute best time: 3:00 am. It was 7:00 am and sunup when we reached home. Yes, Texas is that big.

Next time, I hope to have the elder driving her car, because then we can take turns.