Our Immortality

Recently, my daughter and I have read through a condensed version of The Odyssey for a school reading and writing assignment.  She is currently writing an essay on what constitutes an ancient hero contrasted with a modern definition of a hero. Epic literature can best be described as stories, narratives, tales laced with harrowing adventures perspicaciously put together with language to drive home an elemental truth. As I think on writing and history, another human theme emerges; morality and what is considered good, right and just. These components of writing kept bringing up another theme to my thoughts found in epic story telling, immortality.

The word immortality seems to be appurtenant with mythology; the traditional stories belonging to a culture with tales of gods and heroes depicting the answers to some of the greatest questions the human race encounters. Why we are here, how we got here and what we are to hominify as uniquely created beings.

Greek Glimpse of Immortality

Calypso offers Odysseus immortality using time as a conciliatory tool in her persuasion. She states, "For us there is no before or after, only now, wherein all things are and always were and always will be. Time, you see is a little arrangement man has made for himself to try and measure the immeasurable mystery of life." She proceeds to show him his past and future along with promises of imaginative variety to sway him.

Odysseus sees the pitfalls of the kind of immortality Calypso was selling. He placates her with adulation and states, " I can not be immortal, never to die, never to grow old. What use is courage then?" This statement sums up the idea man has one life, confined within time and growing old gracefully leading to a final end is a heroic, virtuous endeavor. Mortality in its indeterminate freedom is better than being a captive immortal.

Greek Mythology certainly champions the humanistic view that we have all that is needed within ourselves to successfully maneuver through the journey of life. Yes, people can live moral, good lives aside from God and even do some heroic amazing things that benefit human kind. Although some good may come of this, this way of life is pitted with paucity. It blinds one to the fullness God has in store for those who submit to His ways. Humanism has its end in self glorification which is limited by human bounds and has no eternal merit.  Humanism is essentially a Dead End. (Matthew 23, Romans 3:10, John 15:5)


A Modern Glimpse of Immortality

The modern age has regurgitated Greek immortality in the form of entertaining comic heroes and heroines such as; The Avengers, Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and these stories mix humanisms' diegesis. In today's culture immortality is touched upon with a new mythology in the form of Transhumanism. Transhumanism is a belief that the human race can evolve beyond its  current physical and mental capabilities, especially by means of science and technology.

We have seen some of the effects of Transhumanism in the controversial human genome project. Robert K. Grahams, Repository for Germinal Choice was a precursor to current attempts at Genetically Engineered human perfection.  MIT is currently at the forefront of furthering these attempts at human advances towards immortal features.  Mary Shelly's Frankenstein comes to mind when I read about these technological advances.

Without going into more detail of our modern day, unethical, god-complex, humanism on steroids attempts at defining reality, I want to stop and define what real human immortality is. It must start with God and His immortality. He is the pure expression of immortality. Psalms 90:2 states His existence before anything created. God himself states his immortality in His name (Exodus 3:14) when he tells Moses, " I AM."  I AM signifies his self-existence and the Being of all beings.

Time and Eternity
Photo by: lumix2004

Human Immortality: A Truth

Since God is the ultimate immortal being, who created the human race (Genesis 1:27), we can now define what human immortality is. We know that we have a beginning through the fact of birth, philosophers throughout recorded time have tackled the issue of mind, body and spirit and the Internet definition of the word 'immortal' talks about the state of our current reality in this sentence, " Our mortal bodies are inhabited with immortal souls."

So it seems immortality has a basis in something outside of ourselves. It lies in something bigger than ourselves. I'm getting ahead of myself here, I need to stop and clarify a few facts regarding human immortality. Please bare with me as I try to explain a line of thought.

Calypso says time was a man made arrangement as a witty jab towards Odysseus' apprehension towards her offer. In the realm of truth,  God invented time for our benefit (Genesis 1:14). Time is placed in human history as a measuring tool. Time tells us we have a physical beginning and an end and in between these marks we have decisions and choices to make regarding the promises God has given us regarding eternity. Time is a mouthpiece of our mortality yet God intervenes in this medium through conditional, future promises outside of the confines of time in order to save us from the finality of mortality; Death.

The fact is God made humans in perfection, in His image then sin entered the world and corrupted the physical as well as spiritual aspects of His creation. Yes, in this lifespan our bodies are mortal,  decaying towards death but our souls  are immortal and when physical death occurs the soul lives eternally. (Hebrews 9:27)

This is where I need to bring my thought line back to the idea immortality is bigger than ourselves. I pose a question I'm sure has been asked before but is good to discuss under this subject matter. If our souls live on no matter what, why do we need God?

This is where the term death needs to be addressed further. Not only do our physical bodies experience a real death with all its physiological elements, our spiritual condition is either alive or dead as well. If your soul is spiritually dead, meaning without the redeeming value of Christ's promise accomplished on the cross, something humans can not ever accomplish on their own merit, your soul will live in a state of eternal separation from what constitutes life. There is no moving forward so to speak, it is a constant state of stagnation and want.  (And making a statement of faith  in Jesus does not constitute a free pass, salvation is an ongoing process through time).

Time is God's way to shake us out of our blind stupor, to see the reality outside of ourselves, and make every minute count towards what matters in life, sloughing off the things that hinder us in relationship with Him in the present state of being and solidify what will be made true in the future.

One more point and I'll end my speal. Calypso tries to seduce Odysseus with the promise of youth and says, " I was 2,300 years old yesterday. Look at me. Do you see any wrinkles." The world will promise us self gratification and stroke to our vanity now. God cares for your right standing with Him, he makes sure this is priority in our brief life in the point of time He places us in. If we can grasp the importance of Who He is, His nature, Why we are here (an interactive relationship with Him that CHANGES us) in that period of time before eternity he also promises us a new body, whole and without decay along with the mind of Christ outside the limits of time.

Human immortality brings us back to the perfection God intended for us in the first place; in body, mind and spirit!
PRAISE GOD!

Resources:

Bible Versus About Immortality

The Adventures of Ulysses by Bernard Evelin

Note: Ulysses is the name Roman culture gives to Odysseus. Odysseus is the name Greek culture uses).

More Thoughts:
I find it interesting Eliphaz, a 'friend' of Job who unjustly accuses him of being punished by God because of his sin, does get the basic idea that humanism is wrong in his statement found in chapter 4 verse 17. "Can a mortal be more righteous than God? Can a man be more pure than his Maker?"

I Corinthians 15: 35-58 is a glorious passage written by Paul to explain the future promise God has given us regarding immortality. This makes me thankful for any service or sacrifice that God may require of me during my lifetime.




A Great Memory from 2014:

Alex is learning about the Universe. The latest lesson was listing the characteristics of each planet. One thing that popped out to us was the measurement of time for each planet. There is rotation and revolution. Mercury takes 59 Earth days to rotate and 88 Earth days to revolve around the sun. This got us thinking about the characteristics of time. All these planets are spinning at different rates, we certainly compare these to the constant we know, Earth. This got us thinking about Psalms 90:4 "For a thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by.." (The entire chapter is about our life in the span of time and how we need to be attentive to the accountability we have to God.) We find it amazing that God set the Earth's rotation and revolution as it is 1 day (Rotation) and 365 Day revolution. (It would take too long to go into all the details that make life happen because of this detail.) When we look out into space to study it, we are looking into something other than what we tangibly know and when we look outside of ourselves to God our perspectives have to change as well. In reading Psalms 90 it sure seems God has given us the mechanism of time as a benefit for our soul (verse 12). Is it a correct statement to say, time is a gift to help finite humans understand the 'position' we are in and to learn to trust the eternal infinite God? (It certainly looks like God doesn't 'need' time)

Garden Art Birthday Party

A few months back I prompted my daughter to begin brainstorming ideas for her upcoming birthday. This particular party was special because she was transitioning into the realm of the teens. She searched ideas on the WWW but none really called out and said this is the one for me.  She picked my brain late at night during one of our giggle sessions in her room and asked what my birthdays were like growing up as a kid.

I had a captive audience and the stories of birthdays past brought up tales of family, friends, food and knowing you were loved by the efforts your parents put into the festivities. Most of my young girl parties were held at home and the guests not only included my friends but their parents and few of my favorite teachers. These people knew how to party! We would eat, play games, talk for hours and just love being together. As I got older, my parents would let me invite a friend or two out to a fancy restaurant. One of my most memorable birthdays was held at Gashos of Japan where the chef cooked on a teppanyaki grill and playing with your food was the theme of the evening.

I told her I would make her party happen but she had to tell me what appealed to her. Being on the cusp of a more mature age, it was hard to decide what kind of celebration to plan. She chose our traditional at home party. 

She has been interested in Art, Design and the Renaissance period, so she morphed those qualities together and came up with a 'Garden Art Party'. Having a January birthday wasn't going to stop her from experiencing the assets of Spring. She designed everything from her invitation, the crafts the girls would do together,  the cake setting and the decorations.  

I have to smile with pride at the execution of her idea and as a helper and observer of the event, I say she pulled off quite a successful party. Girls were chatting, giggling, working together on their crafts. A few parents even stayed for a little bit and chatted too.  It was a gathering to celebrate Alex but also a way to bring together friends and let them know they mean something to her as well.

Maybe you are looking for a fun, pre-teen party idea that emphasizes relationships are important. My daughter's Garden Art Party idea may just work for you. See below for the ideas she came up with. 

Thirteen
Photo By: Chandra Brown

Alex's Garden Art Party

Floral Crowns

Materials:

• Bachelor Button or Rose type flower head (6-9 florets)
• Braided Nylon Twine or Jute
• Butterfly (optional)
• Hot Glue Gun
• Ruler
• Ribbon (optional)

Instructions: Cut three strands of nylon twine. We chose to make the strands 30 inches long.  Tie a knot at about 6-7 inches at one end of the 3 ply strand. Braid the strands until you reach about 14 inches and then tie off the end to secure braid. Arrange the braided part of the crown as desired with florets and butterfly. Adhere with the glue gun.

Art

Materials: (Note: We chose markers because they are easy clean up)

• Canvas
• Pencil
• Markers
• 
  
  

  

  Art by Alex Brown

Decorations

Materials:

• Cupcake Paper Cups (various sizes)
• String
• Brown Paper Bag 
• Black Marker
• Tape

Instructions: Take four cupcake cups, stick finger in the middle of each paper cup and crunch down sides of paper on your finger, causing the paper cup to bunch up. Stack the four cups within each other, glue each cup individually to the paper cup behind it. You now have a Cupcake Flower. Arrange as desired.

Take the paper bag and cut out triangles to make a message banner. Decorate with a message as you choose.

Alex took white yarn and strung it along the wall. She attached the banner and flowers as she saw fit.

Cupcake Flower Pot With Flower

Materials:

• Small Terra Cotta Pots (Natural or Acrylic Paint any color you choose)
• Cake Mix with Cupcake Baking Cups (standard size cups)
• Tissue Paper (any color you choose)
• Pipe Cleaner (green)
• Card Stock Paper

Instructions: If painting terra cotta pots, paint at least a day ahead. 

Bake cupcakes. We chose chocolate because we LOVE it, but also because it looks like dirt. You can use the terra cotta pots in their natural (lead-free) form to bake the cupcakes in, but we liked using the cupcake baking cups to help make the clean-up easy. They also sit nicely inside the terra cotta pot and lift right out.

Take half of a green pipe cleaner and bend the top portion (about 1/4 of an inch) to create the flowers nub. This will also act as a stop and keep the tissue petals from falling off of that end of the stem. Take tissue paper and cut out 4-6 circles of paper. Size the circle to about the same size of the terra cotta pot opening. Take all the cut tissue paper pieces and use the end of the green pipe cleaner to poke a hole in the middle of the circle center. Push tissue up pipe cleaner to the nub and squish the paper so the petals look like a carnation when finished. Add a small circle of card stock grade paper under the petals to help support and keep from falling off pipe cleaners.

Once the paper flowers are made, gently push the stem into the cupcake for the finished flower growing in a pot look.

All Photos by Chandra Brown

The Swaddling Cloth

Christmas Greetings! It's a quiet morning here in Austin, Texas. I am preparing some pecan tassies to deliver to my husband's co-workers later in the day and the air is full of anticipation for tonight's meal and gift opening. (Yes, we open gifts under the tree on the 24th, per family tradition relating to our mixed heritage of Swedes, Germans and Danes).

As you know I love reading the account of Jesus' birth every year. I especially love Luke's detailed account. He states in Chapter 1 Verse 3 how he took extreme care and investigated each detail, handling the text with meaningful and orderly arrangement. Those attention to details tend to accompany someone with the skill set of a physician. Luke was also educated in Greek culture and as the original text indicates wrote the book in the Classical Greek language.

Let me take a side step here and mention something that caught my attention when I was reading an article about Jesus' birth. It stated that the swaddling cloth mentioned in Luke chapter 2, verse 7 and 12 was a foreshadow of the event of Jesus' death and burial. I thought this interesting and decided to research a little more into this claim. There are many events where prophetic events can have two meanings in the Bible. I could see how this could be true but I couldn't take it at face value. I had to see what the Greek word Luke used for 'cloth' was in this passage. Something I think Luke would have done.

The Newborn King By: Waiting For The World

I'm glad I did. The term Luke chose and undoubtedly chose, in my mind, due to his historian's skeptical eye, was 'SPARGANOO'. This word means to CLOTHE in strips of cloth. Burial 'clothes' uses different terms entirely. 'ENTULISSO' and 'SINDON' refer to the wrapping of a body for burial.

Some state that 'Sparganoo' could still lend to the meaning of grave clothes meant for burial. I tend to disagree with this statement due to the fact the custom of wrapping newborns was detailed as a normal part of the birth process in an Old Testament passage referring to the detailed procedure of newborn care including, wrapping a baby in cloths. Ezekiel 16:4. (The Hebrew term for swaddling in this passage is Chothemeth , it is feminine (to close-up, to seal) connotes security. (NOTE: This particular verse is referring to the city of Jerusalem and used to make a point.)

I'm not sure the extent of Luke's experience in his occupation but I would assume he had working knowledge of the customs surrounding child birth.  I also have to take into consideration Luke's pointed effort to make it very clear in the beginning of his historical account that he took great pains to ensure the validity of the writing so Theophilus (to whom he wrote) may know with CERTAINTY the things he was taught.

It was a known custom for NEWBORN babies to be swaddled in cloths in the past and most people practice this in the present.

For instance, Luke used the term 'Entulisso and 'Sindon' when he wrote about Jesus' death and burial in Chapter 23, verse 50. Why wouldn't he have used these terms in Verse 7 and 12?

I love the specific details God gave the shepherds through His Angel. "Do not be afraid, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for ALL people. TODAY in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; He is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."

It says the Shepherd's HURRIED off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger after hearing this news. (In the same day or within a few days of hearing the news, I do know it was within the first 8 days of Jesus birth that the Shepherds found him. Luke 2:21)

When they saw Him, they spread the word concerning what they had been told about this child and all who heard it were amazed.

I just have to take Luke's statement at its' beautiful, simplistic, accurate value. The Savior of the world was wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.

To God be the Glory this Christmas Season!

Reading For Thought:

Were Jesus' Swaddling Clothes Actually Grave Clothes?

What does it mean that Jesus was wrapped in swaddling clothes?

Interesting: According to Midrash,  the cloths could be a foreshadow of his burial. (Myrrh, a spice is used as an anointing for burial and was given to Jesus at His birth.) I may have missed the deeper meaning. I got the peshat (simple) but not the pesher (deeper) til now. (2-12-18). I'll have to make sure by asking someone educated in this area...

My Holiday Bete Noire

Ahh, Christmas Carols. Some love them, some love to hate them. Some are superb others absurd. They are overplayed, re-made, re-mixed and regurgitated every year. There is one Christmas Carol in particular that fits all of the above descriptions and grates on my nerves no matter which way the spin doctors of Christmas music try to polish the message.

It brings the sarcastic Scrooge out in me and my verbal rants spew their dissatisfaction on the piece every time I hear it. When the offending carol plays on the radio it has caused me to fly down the stairs at lighting speed to mute the clatter, with my family's eyes opened wide asking, "what is the matter?"

"Oh, I'm glad you asked, for I'm willing to share why The Little Drummer Boy is the bane of my Christmas Holiday.

My Sentiments Exactly

First, this whole song is an anachronism of great error.  Do you remember a drummer boy in the account of Jesus' birth?

Of course, I know one can write any scenario they want in the great realm of music creativity. We have a gamut of imaginary carols in the whole Holiday music library; Rudolph, Santa, Frosty the Snowman but the Little Drummer Boy sneaks his way into the Greatest Story Ever Told and it chaps my hide.

Let's just be frank here and talk about reality. I'll set the scene just to give a proper backdrop. Mary and Joseph have a baby, they are new parents, sleep is high on their priority list. The new schedule of having a newborn demands, feeding, bathing, hushing, burping and when the sweet baby is finally asleep the parents sigh in relief and are ready for bed themselves.

Along comes the Little Drummer Boy and rat-a-tat-tats his way into their life as a gift. Come on, no parent in their right mind would nod in approval as it says Mary does in the song. If I was Mary I would tell Joseph to go find out what all that racket was and shut it up as quick as possible.

And when Joseph found out the source of the headache creating 'pa rum pum pum pum' pulse beat, he'd be a smart husband and father to pay the poor boy off and tell him to scram.

Now that the anachronism part of the song lyrics are explained let's get to the actual song. I've about had it after the first chorus of 'pa rum pum pum pum.' What kind of writer makes you listen to that over and over again?

How about throwing in a few, 'da, da da dats', or 'crash, bang booms' for the variety!

OK, I've said my two cents, I've got it out of my system. I hope you can laugh at my little Holiday Carol 'bete noire'. Heck, maybe you've got your own Christmas song pet peeve and can relate.  I'd love to here about them.

I'll end this blog post with a little Drum Punchline

What Did You Make For The Holiday?

I am looking at my hands as I type the words for this blog and my dorsum looks a twin to a plucked chickens skin. My knuckles are creased and each appendage has differing nail lengths. I'd say they have seen a swab bucket or two in their lifetime. Part of me thinks I should tend to them a little more often than I do but to be honest that's low on my priority list.

We think it's important to work with your hands here at the Brown house. Whether it is getting them dirty working in the yard, preparing food in the kitchen, repairing parts on a vehicle, fixing used and abused household apparatuses; rough and tumbled hands are esteemed.

We used our hands this Holiday to create some fun decorations to help fill time but also satiate a need to make something beautiful. It was a healthy collaboration between heart and hands.

Festive Pine Cone Holiday Craft

Photo By: Alexandra Brown

Please enjoy this simple craft in your own home, made by your own hands. Put your own twist on it and see what transpires.

We made two types: A frosted snow and a sparkle, glisten style pine cone. A materials list for both types is listed below.

Materials List

• Small, Medium and Large Pine Cones
• White Acrylic Paint
• Paint Brush
• Glue
• Glitter
• Epsom Salts
• Bowl with Lid
• Ribbon
• Scissors
• Hot Glue Gun and Glue
• Newspaper

Directions: Frosted Snow Pine Cone

Protect your work surface with newspaper. Fill large bowl with about 1/2 Cup to 1 Cup of Epsom Salts. Paint tips of pine cone with white acrylic paint. Let dry. Apply glue over painted tips of pine cone, place the pine cone in the Epsom Salts bowl, place lid on top and shake. Remove lid, before removing pine cone, shake inside the bowl to remove loose salts. Set on newspaper to dry.

Directions: Sparkle and Glisten Pine Cone

Protect work surface with newspaper. Fill large bowl with glitter. (Have fun, choose any color you wish, we loved how silver looked.) Paint tips of pine cone and place inside bowl of glitter, apply lid to bowl and shake. Before removing pine cone, shake it gently inside the bowl to remove excess glitter. Lay on newspaper to dry.

Optional: Once your pine cones have dried. You can help secure the application by spray painting a satin lacquer on them OR you can just let them be. 

You can also spruce them up with bows and holly or just let them show off on their own. 

See the below pictures of where our pine cone craft took us. 

Photo By: Alexandra Brown

Photo By: Alexandra Brown

Photo By: Alexandra Brown

We hope your heart and hands create a beautiful array! 

Happy Crafting!

Remember all those bottle caps I've been saving for a crafting day escapade (archived blog post)... the craft epiphany finally made its' debut in the form of a Christmas Wreath.

YES, I'm proud!

Wreath Made and Photo By:
Chandra Brown

Let's Be Clear About Fresh Water

Have you ever had a moment when reading articles on a subject, something just doesn't sit right with you, so you read them again and stop to think about why they rubbed you the wrong way. Most of the time you can let it go and move on but this particular statement keeps nudging me in the side. It will even creep into my thoughts in order to spur me on in researching why I don't like it. So here goes my little rant on why the statement, 'fresh water is finite' irritated me enough to write about it.

First, I must clarify a few things to help give context to my reasoning on this issue. Let's start with the definition of finite.

Finite: Having limits or bounds. Synonyms: limited, determinate, fixed, restricted. "There is a finite amount of water in the system."

On the surface, the statement, 'fresh water is finite' is true. So why did these articles irritate me when they were discussing this fact.  After researching the water cycle and other science related facts about water, it hit me, it wasn't the actual statement that irritated me it was the context the statement was being used in.

Many articles subtly discussed the issue as if the last drop of fresh water was literally at the end of the barrel and mankind was on the brink of extinction. Some even vaguely mentioned population control as being a solution to our water problem. Others were a little less dramatic but used an emotional based slant for their argument to save the world. I smelled an agenda at hand by using a surface truth to manipulate an outcome.  See this article for reference. Note: I do not reject the problem solving needed in order for civilization to be responsible users of natural resources, I can just do without the fear mongering and half-truths which make you feel bad about using what God created for our benefit. I like to remind readers that God made it very clear He RENEWS (this word connotes an ongoing process) the earth, something we should rejoice in and give due respect to.

Setting agendas and politics aside, let me explain why I call it a surface truth. I call it a surface truth because there is more to the story that goes beyond finite boundaries and shows a miraculous truth so encompassing we should sit in awe of it. It's simple in it's beauty, complex in its' vast details, it is observable and plain to see, so reliable yet we can easily loose our focus on the entire truth and just focus on the surface truth which tends to lead to stagnation.

Fresh water is limited but God made a water cycle so intricate it is renewed daily, monthly, yearly. In fact, it has kept decades and centuries of populations going despite its' mis-use and abuse. I always take a stance towards being responsible and smart with what God has given us, we should always be mindful of the errors finite humans tend to succumb to concerning the natural resources God provides without fail.

Notice how I said finite humans. Water may have finite attributes but God designed and provided the water system to produce exactly what is needed in the past, present and future. An infinite God made this 'finite' system work the way He did with precision and as God tends to do, with an element of need, so the finite humans will learn to trust and follow His ways. It really is a beautiful picture of His amazing love and mercy for humankind.

I have to go off on a tangent here. When I observe the many ways in which God's system delivers fresh water to the earth I am awed by the beauty He made sure to work into His plan. Look at the many ways he shows His glory; vapor, mist, rain, sleet, snow and ice through the processes of evaporation, condensation, precipitation and transpiration where the water goes through a filtration process and comes out clean every time.  I also think of Romans 1:19-20, which states God's truth is plain for all to see through what He made, yet this is suppressed and ignored (my translation). In our day and age of Science and Nature worship, the water cycle has been one of those truths that has begun to be mishandled for ulterior purposes.

Since propaganda has its' grip on the definition of water I'd like to extend what I think of as a less muddled, closer to the whole truth definition of water.  I hope this makes things clear.

Fresh water in its pre-determined quota is infinitely renewable (despite the plethora of variances it experiences through its cycle). Fresh water is a miracle.

The definition of the word miracle according to the WWW is, "an extraordinary event manifesting divine intervention in human affairs." Maybe it's a stretch to some people to call fresh water a miracle but I'll let you be the judge of that. Read this well written description of the water cycle by Jeannette Walls from her book Half Broke Horses, a memoir of her families life as Ranchers (Ranchers tend to know how nature works) and you make the call.

"Sometimes over supper, when Jim got home after a storm, the kids would describe their escapades in the water and mud, and Jim would recount his vast store of water lore and water history. Once the world was nothing but water, he explained, and you wouldn't think it to look at us, but human beings were mostly water. The miraculous thing about water, he said, was that it never came to an end. All the water on the earth had been here since the beginning of time, it had just moved around rivers and lakes and oceans to clouds and rain and puddles and then sunk through the soil to underground streams, to springs, and wells, where it got drunk by people and animals and went back to rivers and lakes and oceans.

The water you kids were playing in, he said, had probably been to Africa and the North Pole. Genghis khan or Saint Peter or even Jesus himself might have drunk it. Cleopatra might have bathed in it. Crazy Horse might have watered his pony with it. Sometimes water was liquid. Sometimes it was rock hard-ice. Sometimes it was soft-snow. Sometimes it was visible but weightless- clouds. And sometimes it was completely invisible-vapor- floating up into the sky like the souls of dead people. There was nothing like water in the world, Jim said. It made the desert bloom but also turned rich bottom land into swamp. Without it we'd die, but it could also kill us, and that was why we loved it, even craved it, but also feared it. Never take water for granted, Jim said. Always cherish it. Always beware of it."

Further Reading on Water

Green Builders Journal, Water-An Infinite Or Finite Resource? by Herb Gardner

Science in the Bible: The Water Cycle by Cheri Fields

Psalms 135:7

Ecclesiastes 1:7

Ecclesiastes 11:3a

Amos 9:6b

Jeremiah 10:13

Isaiah 55:8-11

Job 36:27-28

Job 37: 16

Job 38:16

Genesis 1:1

Remember how I mentioned humans were finite? Take this into consideration, our infinite God who designed the water cycle for beneficial purposes also designed humans for a purpose. Can you guess what that purpose is? If you read my blog, the word relationship may be a clue, a relationship with eternal benefits.

THIS IS AWESOME. GOD'S PEOPLE (ISRAEL) USING HIS RESOURCE WISELY!
Must Read: Let There Be Water

Bathroom Update: Lighting and Mirrors

I'm sure every homeowner has a to-do or wish list for their home. Whether it is maintenance, re-model or high design, it takes perseverance to see the goal through. My blog post, How to Strip and Paint Your Bathroom Vanity has received the most hits over my years of writing on the fly. It was one of those Summer pet projects that helped keep a stay at home mom busy and handy woman skills from getting rusty.

I mentioned removing 'Hollywood lights' in that post because they are a design and fashion no-no. I laugh because I lived with them for five more years after giving that little tidbit of advice. I feel a bit of a hypocrite living so long with the outdated lighting eyesore. I never fail to recommend, first thing and without any doubt to my staging clients to remove these fashions relics before going on market. 

I'll confess, over the years I've thought of ways to break that darn light so I could get a new one but I'm not really the type to manipulate the situation to get my way unless there seems to be a perfect opportunity for the situation to be dealt with in a logical manner, so I used my birthday as my persuasion tool to pitch the idea of ridding the distasteful lighting bar to my husband. We both live under the 'if it isn't broke, don't fix it' standard but alas, my duplicity had to come to an end. 

I said, "I don't need to go out for my birthday or even have a party or a gift, I just want that flagrant lighting that blights my view gone." This proposition made sense, I told my husband what I wanted and he delivered, easy-peasy for both parties. I think I like this particular type of persuasion and keep this notion ready for future birthdays.

The Update

The fact is, our master bathroom needs a total overhaul. Until that happens I updated using a new wall paint, mirrors and a brushed nickel towel bar and ring. I also re-caulked the shower, tub and sink vanity to help give a clean, fresh look sans mildew.

BEFORE
By: Chandra Brown

AFTER:UPDATE
By: Chandra Brown

The current trends are calling for contemporary modes. So I changed the paint from the outdated blue hue to a classic grey. I removed the builder grade, original mirror that had de-silvered edges and installed in-expensive, thick, natural, wood toned framed mirrors with grey undertones. The brushed nickel towel bar and ring defines the transitional style which helps mix the contemporary with traditional.

I didn't change the chocolate brown vanity cabinets I originally did five years ago. They still look great...

We decided to wait on the sink vanity faucets for budgetary purposes and yes, the ones we have in place are also a design and fashion no-no. 

Let's just say next years birthday persuasion will be announced with anticipated gusto unless a mysterious calamity befalls the faucets before then. (He He!)

P.S.

I did re-purpose those old Hollywood light bulbs in the new lighting bar.