Flowers In The Rain

It's about choosing happiness and accepting that this means accepting some measure of illusion as well. Paul goes past those "shadows dark and deep" without entering them. He realizes the facts of the universe that his life will end, flowers bend with the rainfall, and his reflection just shows a small and dark figure (reference to Plato's allegory of the cave). He admits to being blinded and wandering without direction, but he's already demonstrated self-awareness of his self-deception. Whether you're at the top or the bottom of society, you could go to either joy or sorrow, it's all about mindset. So he forms this fantasy, makes it become reality so he can face the world with a smile.

Safety First

A well-stocked first aid kit is a handy thing to have. To be prepared for emergencies keep a first aid kit in your home and in your car, carry a first aid kit with you or know where you can find one, know the location of first aid kits where you work. First aid kits come in many shapes and sizes. Some kits are designed for specific activities, such as hiking, camping or boating. Whether you buy a first aid kit or put one together, make sure it has all the items you may need; include any personal items such as medications and emergency phone numbers or other items your health-care provider may suggest, check the kit regularly, make sure the flashlight batteries work, check expiration dates and replace any used or out-of-date contents.

My first aid kits include:

bandages	large size bandages	adhesive tape
assorted sterile gauze pads	elastic bandage	gauze roll
sterile cotton-tipped swabs	Q-tips	pocket knife
scissors	tweezers	nail clippers
antiseptic spray	ammonia inhalant	itch relief spray
aloe gel	Sudaphed	burn cream
alcohol prep pads	pain reliever	chapstick
non latex medical gloves	hand sanitizer	instant cold pack
eye lubrication	antacids	Loperamide
hemostatic powder	glow sticks

Other useful things to have would be: sterile eyewash or saline, a blanket, first aid manual, antihistamine to treat allergies and swelling, decongestant, anti-nausea medicine, thermometer, tourniquet, suture kit, or bismuth subsalicylate.

Self Affirmation

Self-affirmation theory is a psychological theory that focuses on how individuals adapt to information or experiences that are threatening to their self-concept. Claude Steele originally popularized self-affirmation theory in the late 1980s, and it remains a well-studied theory in social psychological research. Self-affirmation theory contends that if individuals reflect on values that are personally relevant to them, they are less likely to experience distress and react defensively when confronted with information that contradicts or threatens their sense of self. Self-affirmation theory proposes that individuals are driven to protect their self-integrity. According to self-affirmation theory, self-integrity is one’s concept of himself or herself as a good, moral person, who acts in ways that are in accord with cultural and social norms. Steele purported that the self is made up of different domains: roles, values, and belief systems. Roles include responsibilities a person has, such as being a parent, friend, student, or professional. Values are aspirations people live in accordance to, including things like living healthfully and treating others with respect. Belief systems include the ideologies to which a person ascribes, such as religious or political beliefs. Self-integrity can take many forms. For example, self-integrity can take the form of being independent, intelligent, a helpful member of a society, part of a family, and/or part of a group. Threats against a person's self-integrity are events or messages that imply an individual is not good or adequate in a personally relevant domain. Self-affirmation theory suggests that when individuals face threat to one of these domains, they are motivated to maintain a positive global image of himself or herself. Instead of having one self-concept (e.g., I am a good parent), self-affirmation theory posits that individuals flexibly define who they are using various roles (e.g., I am a good parent, child, and worker). Having a flexible sense of self allows individual to offset weaknesses in one domain, by highlighting the strengths in another domain. That is, if someone perceives threat to one domain, he or she can accommodate this threat by upholding a value in another domain. Self-affirmations can come from many sources. Having a flexible self-concept allows people to adapt in the face of threat.

Diabetes

Excessive thirst and increased urination are classic diabetes symptoms. When you have diabetes, excess sugar (glucose) builds up in your blood. Your kidneys are forced to work overtime to filter and absorb the excess sugar. If your kidneys can't keep up, the excess sugar is excreted into your urine, dragging along fluids from your tissues. This triggers more frequent urination, which may leave you dehydrated. As you drink more fluids to quench your thirst, you'll urinate even more. Also, you may feel fatigued. Many factors can contribute to this. They include dehydration from increased urination and your body's inability to function properly, since it's less able to use sugar for energy needs. Diabetes symptoms sometimes involve your vision. High levels of blood sugar pull fluid from your tissues, including the lenses of your eyes. This affects your ability to focus. Doctors and people with diabetes have observed that infections seem more common if you have diabetes.  It may be that high levels of blood sugar impair your body's natural healing process and your ability to fight infections. Diabetes may weaken your ability to fight germs, which increases the risk of infection in your gums and in the bones that hold your teeth in place. Your gums may pull away from your teeth, your teeth may become loose, or you may develop sores or pockets of pus in your gums — especially if you have a gum infection before diabetes develops.  If you have diabetic nerve damage, which is called neuropathy, you could have an infected cut, scratch, or skin puncture and not know it.

St. Jude and St. anthony

Catholic saints are holy people and human people who lived extraordinary lives. Each saint the Church honors responded to God's invitation to use his or her unique gifts.

St. Jude, the patron of lost causes, and St. Anthony of Padua, the finder of lost objects, are two saints who have attracted popular devotion. As in "Some days when we were little, we'd come home and not be able to find our mother and we'd pray to St. Anthony to help us find her. Then when we’d find her with her head in the oven, we would pray to St. Jude to make her sane again"

St. Jude is one of Jesus’ original twelve Apostles. He preached the Gospel with great passion, often in the most difficult circumstances. St. Jude is traditionally depicted carrying the image of Jesus in his hand. This recalls one of his miracles during his work spreading the Word of God. King Abagar of Edessa asked Jesus to cure him of leprosy and sent an artist to bring him a drawing of Jesus. Impressed with Abagar’s great faith, Jesus pressed His face on a cloth, leaving the image of His face on it. He gave the cloth to St. Jude, who took the image to Abagar and cured him. Actually, Jude had the same name as Judas Iscariot. Evidently because of the disgrace of that name, it was shortened to "Jude" in English. Because his name was similar to the traitor Judas Iscariot, few, if any faithful Christians prayed for his intervention, out of the mistaken belief that they would be praying to Judas Iscariot. As a result, St. Jude was little used, and so became eager to assist any who asked him, to the point of intervening in the most dire of circumstances. The Church also wanted to encourage veneration of this "forgotten" disciple. Therefore, the Church maintained that St. Jude would intervene in any lost cause to prove his saintliness and zeal for Christ, and thus St. Jude became the patron of lost causes.

Saint Anthony was born Fernando Martins in Lisbon, Portugal. By the age of fifteen he was sent to the Abbey of Santa Cruz in Coimbra, the then capital of Portugal. Following his ordination to the priesthood, he was named guest master and was responsible for the abbey's hospitality. When Franciscan friars settled a small hermitage outside Coimbra dedicated to Saint Anthony of Egypt, Fernando felt a longing to join them. Fernando eventually received permission to leave the Abbey so he could join the new Franciscan Order. When he was admitted, he changed his name to Anthony. Anthony was assigned to the hermitage of San Paolo An undetermined amount of time later, Dominican friars came to visit the Franciscans and there was confusion over who would present the homily. The Dominicans were known for their preaching, thus the Franciscans assumed it was they who would provide a homilist, but the Dominicans assumed the Franciscans would provide one. It was then the head of the Franciscan hermitage asked Anthony to speak on whatever the Holy Spirit told him to speak of. Though he tried to object, Anthony delivered an eloquent and moving homily that impressed both groups. Soon, news of his eloquence reached Francis of Assisi, who held a strong distrust of the brotherhood's commitment to a life of poverty. However, in Anthony, he found a friend.  In 1224, Francis entrusted his friars' pursuits of studies to Anthony. Anthony had a book of psalms that contained notes and comments to help when teaching students and, in a time when a printing press was not yet invented, he greatly valued it.  When a novice decided to leave the hermitage, he stole Anthony's valuable book. When Anthony discovered it was missing, he prayed it would be found or returned to him. The thief did return the book and in an extra step returned to the Order as well. So simple and resounding were Anthony's teachings of the Catholic Faith, that the most unlettered and innocent could understand his messages. Anthony was only 36-years-old when he died and was canonized less than one year afterward by Pope Gregory IX.
It is interesting to note that, although Anthony has been frequently portrayed in art since his death in 1231, images of him with the Christ child did not become popular until the 17th century. In John 1, you can read about Jesus being the Word, and the Word is God. St. Francis preached the Word, and rather than depicting the Word as a bible, or scroll. They used the image of the infant Jesus. I think a stylistic choice was made, and it just caught on.

Fruit Water

Studies have shown that drinking water naturally boosts your metabolism, and drinking fruit infused water for weight loss can be an easy way to increase your water intake. Infuse water at room temperature for no more than 2 hours. After that, put it in the fridge to prevent bacterial growth. Cucumbers, citrus fruits, melons, and mint flavor water almost immediately. Apples, cinnamon, fresh ginger root, and rosemary need an overnight soak in the fridge. Melons and sliced strawberries start looking waterlogged after a few hours; citrus, and whole berries look pretty good even after hours in the fridge. After 4 hours, unpeeled citrus can make water taste bitter. To make a big jug of infused water for a party, peel the citrus before soaking. Or you can soak it unpeeled for 4 hours, remove it, and add fresh slices for looks. (And keep that water icy cold for food safety.) If you don’t drink the water within 24 hours, strain out the solids and refrigerate for up to 3 days.

Cucumber + lime + strawberry + mint	. .	Lemon + raspberry + rosemary
Orange + blueberry + basil	. .	Lime + ginger root + basil
Watermelon + honeydew + mint	. .	Cucumber + mint + jalapeno
Lemon + thyme	. .	Blueberry + lemon + mint
Lemon + cucumber	. .	Orange + hibiscus + star anise
Orange + cinnamon + cardamom + cloves	. .	Pear + fennel
Strawberry + tangerine	. .	Red Apple + Cinnamon
Mango + Ginger	. .	Grapefruit + Rosemary
Oranges + cardamom + cinnamon + clove	. .	raspberry + lime

Cherry blossoms

Coveted by all
turning into such beauty -
the falling red leaves.

-shiko 1664

Aliens

The Final Passover, The First Communion

Passover commemorates the emancipation of the Israelites from slavery in ancient Egypt. Israel had been in Egypt in bondage for over 400 years. They had been oppressed and enslaved. God delivered them by the leadership of Moses through a series of plagues. You can read about them in the opening chapters of the book of Exodus. Finally Pharaoh was so distraught at what was happening in his nation, that he let them go. The final plague was the death of the firstborn, the angel of death came and killed the firstborn in every family, the firstborn of man and animal unless you had sacrificed a lamb and splattered the blood on the doorposts and the side beams. Then the angel of death passed by.  The end of the Old Testament is the death of Jesus.
Luke chapter 22: “No man takes My life from Me. I lay it down by Myself.” You might assume that the Jewish leaders took the life of Jesus. You might assume that the Romans took the life of Jesus. And while the Jewish leaders wanted Him dead and the Romans executed Him, no one took His life from Him. It was a willing sacrifice in complete submission to and agreement with God. God chose Jesus to be the final Passover Lamb, to pay the penalty for sin for all who would believe.  But before Jesus dies, He is going to meet with His Apostles and He is going to end something and begin something. Luke 22:14 “And when the hour had come, He reclined at the table and His Apostles with Him, and He said to them, ‘I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer, for I say to you, I shall never again eat it until it is fulfilled in the Kingdom of God.’ And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He said, ‘Take this and share it among yourselves, for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine from now on until the Kingdom of God comes.’ And when He had taken some bread and given thanks, He broke it and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is My body which is given for you, do this in remembrance of Me.’ And in the same way He took the cup after they had eaten, saying, ‘This cup which is poured out for you is the New Covenant in My blood.’”
What can we say about the 'New Covenant in My blood'? The New Covenant is everything. Now we know that covenants were ratified by blood. For example: Exodus 24: “'We will obey...we will obey...we will obey,' and they sealed their covenant by being splattered with blood."- The disciples knew that blood, death, of an animal, an innocent substitute, was part of the sealing of a covenant. They also knew, Leviticus 17, the life of the flesh is in the blood, that atonement came through blood through death. They understood that sacrifice by death, shedding of blood, was part of accomplishing forgiveness of sin. Jesus says, “This now is not going to be a symbolic sacrifice part of the Old Testament, this is the real sacrifice, this is the blood not of the Old Covenant but the New Covenant. To put it another way, this evening Jesus brings to an end the Old Covenant and the Old Testament and inaugurates the New Covenant and the New Testament. He goes from Passover, the last legitimate Passover, to the Lord’s table, or communion. He ends millennia of a celebration looking back to God’s delivering power in Egypt and inaugurates a new memorial, looking back to the cross and the deliverance far greater accomplished there. The new covenant is God's pledge to forgive the sins of his people and to put his laws within us and to write them on our hearts, and to be our God and to make us his people.
I refute transubstantiation(the turning of bread into the literal physical body of Christ) and also consubstantiation (the turning of bread into His spiritual body). It’s not either. It’s simply a remembrance. It’s simply a symbol. Bread, earthly, fragile speaks of His body, earthly, fragile, subject to death as bread has the same declining properties of all things in the physical world. Christ took on human form, became subject to death. The bread reminds us that His body is given for you. In the Passover, the bread was called the bread of affliction, it commemorated their affliction in Egypt. It is no longer the bread of affliction. He’s going to transform it. “From now on, this is not going to remind you of the affliction from which God delivered the people out of Egypt, this is My body which is given for you.” This becomes the Holy Communion.