affliction

PRECIOUS PEARLS OF PRUDENCE

(September 20, 2024) Mama Lava shares some precious insights…

Are you familiar with the origins of pearls? I admit I was a bit mistaken in what I thought I knew.

Did you know it’s not a scratchy bit of sand which typically begins the process? A pearl is more commonly a mollusc’s defensive reaction to a parasite.

Natural History Museum informs us that —
‘Pearls are made by marine oysters and freshwater mussels as a natural defence against an irritant such as a parasite entering their shell or damage to their fragile body. The oyster or mussel slowly secretes layers of aragonite and conchiolin, materials that also make up its shell. This creates a material called nacre, also known as mother-of-pearl, which encases the irritant and protects the mollusc from it. When pearls are cultured commercially an irritant is manually inserted into a mollusc to promote the production of mother-of-pearl. Nacre can form naturally around almost any irritant that gets inside the shell, creating some very unique and precious pearls.’

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IN THE GARDEN

(April 02, 2023) Richard Winter reflects…

It’s often said that in the olden days things were different. Some will remember in those olden days that we had a garden at the back of our home… we grew most of our vegetables, some flowers and some fruit trees.

Everybody loves a garden. Whether you like to work in a garden, whether you plant it, or just like walking through one that somebody else has done all the work in, there is beauty in a garden.

The Holy Bible has a lot to say about either gardening or planting, or sowing and harvesting. Gardens feature in scripture from the beginning of Genesis to the last chapter of Revelation. All of them are important to God’s plan… three on this earth, one not.

The three earthly ones were places of sadness, although the third became a place to rejoice over! And the fourth? Well let’s look at these four pivotal biblical places that have changed the way God’s people live… and can live.

The first garden was creation…

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