I found my green thumb recently and delved into caring for plants. I currently have a beautiful monstera with lovely grande leaves, a dracaena standing tall in a bunch of three stall stems, a snake plant which is growing at rapid speed. I’ve had the dracaena for some time now and was wondering if it was time to repot to allow more room to grow. In typical Stacy style, what did I do to figure this out? I googled it. One reason why plants need repotting were the growth has slowed or stopped is that the container it’s in is too small. Because of this, the plant may stop producing flowers. Another reason is that the soil may dry out very quickly and may start to pull away from the container sides and become hard.

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             When learning to drive, it’s not uncommon to hear the phrase ‘keep your eyes on the road!’. Why? That’s because wherever you place your eyes, that’s the direction you will go. If you take your eyes off the road then what? An accident can happen, you and others could get hurt and you may not even get to where you really need to go. Using another example, horses wear something called blinders, also known as blinkers. Blinders restrict the horse’s vision so they can only see what’s ahead. It keeps the horses in a relaxed state and free from the distractions around them. Another reason why these blinders are often placed on them is that if their eye was injured it provides support to help an injured eye recover. 

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       Have you ever wondered where trees get their food from to grow? Or, do they ever ask their fellow tree, “Hmm, what’s for dinner today?” This may sound silly, especially if you are familiar with the scientific process of photosynthesis where green plants use sunlight and other elements to make food.

       But who provides the sunlight and other elements such as the carbon dioxide, oxygen, and water they need to make this all happen? Do trees worry about these things or do they trust the process enough that God has in place for them?

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       A significant aspect of nature lies within the trees that elegantly surround us. One tree, called The Shepherd Tree, is said to have the deepest roots. Its roots are over 230 feet or seventy meters deep, like sensors or antennas, searching and digging into the deepest depths of the land. Why? It is looking for water. Water is its nutrient for it to remain alive, standing tall in a desert with nothing else around it.

       Interestingly, the name of this tree is “Shepherd Tree.” Throughout God’s Word, he is referred to as your Shepherd, the one who guides you to where you should go.

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My friends decided to have a potluck at the beach on a beautiful summer day!

While there, everyone’s dish looked so tasty I couldn’t wait to dig in. Before doing that though, I had to go to the washroom, which was large with many cubicles. When I got there, I joined the long line, and as one person came out, the person in front went in, and that trend continued. I was there for a while and expected that as others left, the line would move much faster. I decided to ask if the other cubicles were occupied, and the natural response was “yes, they were.” Not confident in that answer as I hadn’t seen anyone go in or come out for some time, I decided to take it a step further and knocked on doors I suspected were empty.

To everyone’s surprise, there were several empty cubicles no one was using while several people waited in line. Now, what would have happened if I had not asked? What would have happened if I had not taken it a step further and knocked? The line would have gotten longer and longer, people would have been frustrated after waiting so long, and there could have even been unexpected accidents.

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Today is May Day. For some, it’s celebrated in parts of Europe and Asia as a spring festival or holiday. This marks the end of winter, the revival of nature, and also the revival of the soil for agricultural practices. It’s celebrated with enjoyable festivities such as the Maypole dance. During this dance children cheerfully dance around and wrap a pole with colorful ribbons, creating a weave of exuberant colors. This is a joyous tradition enjoyed by many.

Outside of that, others may be more familiar with “Mayday,” which is different from “May Day.” Mayday is an international radio signal used by aircraft, boats, and other vessels. Repeated three times, “Mayday, Mayday, Mayday!” is a call of urgency and distress according to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). Based on ICAO regulations which are also outlined in The Federation Aviation Administration of the US,[i] this distress communication message has absolute priority over other communication.

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The world is evolving, and the way we do things changes over time. Take communication, for example, the way people communicate today differs from forty years ago. The most obvious example is the use of the telephone. Telephones were once in a fixed place in the home. You had to sit in one spot to speak on the phone (Yes Gen Zs, this was actually the case). After that, the phone evolved into a cordless where you could speak and move around anywhere in the house. That also evolved. Now, there is the use of cell phones. With cell phones, you can now call inside and outside the home, and you can even use them when travelling!

Though technology has evolved, what is still necessary is the “need to communicate” . That has not changed. Can you imagine a world where no one spoke or communicated with each other at all? How would you feel emotionally if no one communicated with you for days, months, or years? You would feel very empty, right?

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“Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me.” Have you heard this phrase before?

It’s a popular rhyme that may be familiar to many. It was used decades ago as an internal defense mechanism for bullying in schools which predominantly came in the form of insults. The gist of the phrase was if something doesn’t physically hurt then it doesn’t hurt. But is it really true?

In a study by psychologists from Friedrich Schiller University of Jena in Germany, pain-related words do affect the pain matrix of the brain[i]. It was obvious from this study that a wound, that almost never gets better over time, tends to be from words.

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In today’s world, we typically add value to something based on where it originated or how it was made.

Look at produce for example. Fruits and vegetables that are organic and made without the use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, are valued and cost more than other produce. Think of clothing or art. At some boutique stores, you will see the label 100% handmade or hand-painted on certain items. That label adds value to the item.

Most people place more value on items made with detail and not in a cookie-cutter fashion. Look at diamonds, for example. They are one of the most valuable and expensive things in the world. If you should find one in the trash, does it lose its value? It might be a dirty diamond, but it’s still a diamond. It still has value and worth.

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