Boasting or Modesty

Sometimes the commercials are more interesting than the programs. One such commercial is about two men obviously boasting about their surgeries.

Sometimes boasting or bragging can backfire as in this story: A very wealthy lady was showing her new maid all the rooms in their fabulous house and their wall-to-wall furniture, and boasting about everything. Finally she said to her maid: "This dining room suite goes all the way back to Louis, the fourteenth. The maid replies: "Well lady, you don't have nothing on me. My whole living room suite goes back to Sears & Roebuck on the 13th."

We all know people who boast about their home, car, boat, vacations and jewelry. You get the point. Here are some old sayins:

The empty vessel makes the greatest sound. (Shakespeare)
Never cackle until the egg is laid.
The bigger a man's head gets, the esier it is to fill his shoes.
"We sure shook that bridge," the mouse said to the elephant after they had crossed the bridge.
If you wish people to speak well of you, then do not speak of yourself.
Confusius wrote: "Humility is the foundation of all virtues."

You might say Modesty and Humility are first cousins. Modesty is not a weak and timid quality; it must however be carefylly distinguished from a groveling spirit. Although Pride is one of the 'seven deadly sins,' there is such a thing as a honest pride and self-respect.

We should avoid some four letter words, but utilize these: work, pray and love.

"The fear of the Lord is instruction in wisdom and humility goes before honor." Proverbs 15:33

The more humble a person is before God, the more he will be exalted.

Worry

Bill is a walking time bomb. Both of his carotid veins are 98% blocked. Do we have surgery or not? If he doesn't have the surgery, the chances are high that he will have a stroke one day, but there is also danger in the surgery. So we are trying to take it one day at a time.

I have to remind myself it is futile and actually wasteful to lose time and even jeopardize my health by constant worrying. By worrying about problems , you can feel like you're just going around in circles and getting nowhere. Moreover, you are courting hypertension, ulcers,
despondency and even bring on a stroke or a heart attack. Worry & anxiety are synonymous.

Here is what one wise man wrote: "It is not the care of today, but the cares of tomorrow that
weight a person down. For the needs of today we have corresponding strength given. For tomorrow, we are told to trust. It is not ours yet."

Ben Franklin once said: "Do not anticipate trouble or worry about what may happen. Keep in the sunlight."

We borrow trouble when we torment ourselves with imaginary dangers or trials. On the other hand the individual who does not allow the thousand little worries of life to embitter them has full faith in God to put those worries to rest.

"Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?" Matt. 6:27

"Therefor do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Let the days own trouble be sufficient for the day. " Matt. 6:34

We should all remember that the misfortunes hardest to bear are those which never happen.
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Patience

Have you ever put new license plates on your car? The screws are too tight to loosen - the hole doesn't line up for the screw. How about the vehicle registration sticker? If you get a corner just right it will peel right off, but then what to do with the gooey mess left on the windshield. What I need is a little patience.

Sometimes my computer just don't work fast enough and when this happens I tend to give it another instruction, one after another, and then it slows down even more. What I need is a little patience.

We have created for ourselves instant lifestyles like 'one hour photo processing' and 'same-day dry cleaning.' If things don't happen right now, we get impatience.

We get impatience even with God - especially when we are undergoing a trial. When God wants to make a giant oak he takes many years. Yet, we wander, if He can create somethng out of nothing in an instant, why doesn't He act? Maybe, when our patience is being stretched, we are being given an opportunity to expand. There is a 'right time' to bring us to maturity and a strong faith. We read in the scriptures:

"We can rejoice too, when we run into problems and trials for we know that they are good for us - they help us learn to be patient. And patience develops strength of character in us and helps us trust God more each time we use it until finally our hope and faith are strong and steady." Romans 5:3-5 The Living Bible

NARA

Farewell to Japan -Kimono I purchased and brought home.

Wilhelmine modeling kimono in hotel in Nara.
Nara is about 25 miles south of Kyoto and is older than the sister city. Beginning in 710, for 74 years Nara (then called Heijo) was capital of Japan.

The Big Buddha measuring 16.2m in height and weighs 452 tons.

Gold Spiral in Nara Park

Kasugataisha Temple has 3000 lanterns

Wilhelmine standing in front of more lanterns at Kasugataisha Temple

Kofukuji Temple is famous for its five storied Pagoda (165 ft. high) built in 1426. In the 8th century Kifukuji Temple had almost 2300 buildings. Fire after fire leveled them and now the Pagoda and four haus are left.

Todai-ji is the largest wooden building and its idol one of the largest bronze images of Buddha in the world.

Nara park is a woodsy expanse of hugh Japanese cedars, oaks and cypress trees. More than 1000 tame deer (called divine essengers) wander about the park during the day. At dusk, the call of a trumpet summons them to return to their pens.

Oyster Beds

At the age of 32, Kokichi Mikimoto decided to research into the possibility of creating cultured 'pearls,' an accomplishment, considered beyond any man's ingenuity and capabilities in his time. During the years that followed, he met many difficulties which had to be solved before his dream finally materialized in the production of the world's first cultured pearl on July 11, 1893. We visited Pearl Island, the spot where Mikimoto first succeeded in creating a cultured pearl.

Mikimoto developed the cultured pearl by artificially stimulating oysters by inserting an irritant (a grain of sand) inside oyster, causing it to secrete the nacre of which cultured pearls are formed. The irritant sand comes from the Missouri River near St. Louis Mo.

Pearl beds

The seeded oysters are placed in cages and suspended from bamboo rafts. The pearls are harvested six months to seven years later.

The 'Ama' women divers collect 60% ot the total marine products including the 'pearl' oysters, abalone, lobster and seaweed.

Wilhelmne as a 'Ama' Diver

The 'Ama' Women diving for oysters.

Food

I ate with chopsticks all the time spent in Japan- I got pretty good and even enjoyed most of the food.

Traveling in Japan

Tea Bushes

I learned to like the 'green' tea that the Japanese drink even before it became popular here in the U.S.

Everywhere we went while traveling in Japan, we saw Cherry Trees and Plum Trees in bloom.

Wilhelmine standing in front of Cherry Tree at Temple.

More Cherry Trees

Rice Field

More rice fields

Rice is a stable food in Japan. Every meal is served with rice.

Cedar Trees