In light of another Blog-a-versary, here are some top-ranking posts for your review! Do you agree they are my best work? Share your favourites!
Natural Fertilizers for Your Plants
Spiritual Awakenings at the Grand Canyon
As always, I love chatting with you all. I hope you enjoy our little muses together. Don’t forget to share your favourite posts with others… it’s the way the internet lets the world know you are there. Have an idea for me? Let me know!
When we were younger, a great gang of us kids would spend long summer days catching frogs in the lake near our summer home. We’d create a make-shift home in our buckets with a landing rock and some seaweed and hope they would stay forever. They didn’t. Our moms would send us back to shore with our bucket o’ frogs and make us release them to the wilderness once again at the end of the day. There aren’t too many frogs left now, pollution has stolen up most of them. They say an unspoiled wetland is teeming with frogs. And they are not just in wetlands, either. Apparently, there are approximately 5 000 species of frogs covering every habitat from wetland to desert tundra! Plus, new types of frogs are being discovered every day!
Here are some fun Froggie facts:
Obviously, this week I have been learning some fun frog facts — for some reason, I stumbled upon a fabulous frog fact and haven’t looked back since. Wanna see?
This is a Glass Frog (Centrolenella colymbiphyllum). Its skin is so translucent that you can watch its heart beating, its blood flowing and its food digesting! They used to be a bit of a mystery to the scientific community because they are only translucent on the bottom half. The top of the frog is lime green, which makes sense, as this is the same colour as the tropical leaves they hang out on. As it turns out the hue of their legs blends in even better when the sun shines down on their leafy home — the brightness shifts — adding to an increase in camouflage for these little buddies. How cool. Not to mention a see-through belly where one can watch digestion happen in live-action? Even cooler. I muse again at the handiwork of our Creator!
Wanna hear another fun frog fact? I’m just a bundle of frog information this week, aren’t I? Here goes: frogs have a 3 chambered heart. One part for bringing in oxygen from the skin and two chambers for oxygenation of blood from the rest of the body. A good system as designed by a good God.
So why all this froggie fraternizing this week? Diversity. Frogs are a phenomenal example of how vast and diverse a species can be. Each is adapted to their own special gift; perfectly designed for their specific habitat or lifestyle. Should the giant Goliath frog be jealous of the glass frog’s translucency? Nope. Should the tiny tree frog crave the Hollywood lifestyle of Miss Piggy’s Kermit? Even though it’s “Not easy bein’ green?” I say again, no.
Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians that we are all individuals, yet still a part of the bigger picture of the body of Christ. We come with our own unique talents, gifts, abilities and yes, faults. Not all of us are perfect, and many of us struggle to change the bad for the better. Our churches are collections of people with differing opinions and ever-changing views. Some we like, and others we argue over. None has been more evident to me than during these last two years of vaccines, lockdowns and Covid restrictions. Still, I believe God has equipped us with a specific set of skills to be His advocate and further His kingdom to the best of our abilities. I mean, if he can make teeny see-thru frogs, why not the complex brain of a human?
We have the unique ability to rationalize. To think and reason and weigh the consequences of our behaviour. Should we really be so petty to focus on being hearts when we should be being hands or feet, or eyeballs that help swallow our food? God designed us to all be parts of the body! Fully Relying On God, Graciously, In Everything. In case you didn’t get it… that’s being a happy little: “F.R.O.G.G.I.E”
Happy Musing, my friends.
Welcome back, friends! Have you noticed that I have a little theme going on these past few weeks? I didn’t intend for it to happen, but my muses seem to be going “back to basics” as I think about such simple objects… pencils, snowflakes and this week… the simple match stick. I was cleaning out a cupboard recently and found a collection of matchsticks. The box was nowhere to be found and they were scattered all over the bottom of the (one of many) junk drawers in my house. I’m discovering how crazy complex seemingly simple things are. Worth a post or two, I am discovering, as I look up content. Anyway, back to the junk drawer matches. As I gathered them up, I wondered if I needed the original box. Turns out, I may. Apparently, there is a difference between the cheap, safety box o’ matches a la dollar store, and the “strike anywhere” matches via the old movies where the cowboy lights his pipe on the bottom of his cowboy boot.
It comes down to the calculation of complex chemical reactions. And a little friction and fuel. Our safety matchbox holds that strip along the side. The strip contains red phosphorus and teeny bits of powdered glass. The tip of the match stick contains sulphur and a bit of wax (plus the wood of the stick itself). Here’s where the magic happens: match strikes the box, friction via the bits of glass create heat, heat changes the chemical composition of red phosphorus to white phosphorus, white phosphorus is highly flammable and reacts to the oxygen in the air to create heat… the heat is fueled by the oxygen and the wax and sulphur and: poof! FIRE!
All of this happens in a fraction of a second. The strike-anywhere matches have all the chemicals contained in the match head… making them a “quick fuse” shall we say? And therefore labelled as “dangerous goods”. They are hard to find easily on the shelves and are accompanied by the appropriate safety guidelines nowadays. Don’t play with matches, kids! My hubby loves a good fire. He’s a big kid when it comes to that mesmerizing flame. The bigger the bonfire the better. Maybe the box is out by our firepit. Currently drowned by the snow. Probably safer there.
I read recently that following Christ is a lot like building a fire. We receive salvation in an instant… like the matchstick igniting. But the matchstick will quickly die out if a fire is not tended and fueled. At first with kindling and tinder. Quick lessons ignite our passion when we first come to faith… we are “on fire”. Then, our journeys slow down and we slow burn for a while… we take time to eat away at the big logs and rejoice that burning embers make for good marshmallows. Yet, without stoking and refuelling, even a giant bonfire with eventually burn itself out. We must continue to fan the flame in our hearts… but the good part is, God is there to help along the way! His word is a constant catalyst for the fire in our hearts. And it never gets used up.
I’m finding it hard to keep the kindling hot during zoom calls and online. Despite the lockdowns, my time gets eaten up with other things than personal Bible study. I want to go to concerts, retreats and conferences. I want to meet with other believers who can fuel my fire and ignite the glowing embers of my heart. Still, simple match sticks are complex enough to bring forth a flame on the tiniest of toothpicks. And it only takes a spark to set a whole forest ablaze. Perhaps I need a bit of patience. Or a really good marshmallow skewer and a bit of time to revel in the sweet goodness of burning embers.
mittonmusings 