Religion
Paul wrote 1 Corinthians 13 in 54 AD. He wrote it to a church community he had established. He wanted people to love others in more than a feeling. He wanted them to practise seven things:
Patience (Romans 12:12)
Kindness (make yourself useful)
Contentment (Philippians 4:11)
Humility ( don’t be a know it all Philippians 2:3)
Self-restraint ( don’t let others push your buttons)
Think well of others
Seeing others as they can become in Jesus.
But remember, in all these seven points,‘Let us come boldly to the throne of grace , that we may get mercy, and find grace to HELP in time of NEED.‘
The plant
On the pot, it says Cotyledon, then using a plant app and Google, I found this name: Aakula draxa mokka.
As it is said, the plant is not super common but not necessarily rare. It caught my eye looking at a display of plants in Leiden Holland (if I am remembering correctly.)
Look at its small grey green leaves. They are opposite each other, with the next set oriented at 90 degrees to their preceding and following pairs.
They do not survive poor light and bad drainage. This one has been on the table 2m from the window and done well while we were away. They occur in South Africa, in both winter and summer regions.
Our second plant bought at the same time had no name. I found that curio citriformis/ string of beads had round leaves, but curio herreanus/string of watermelons has tear drop shaped leaves.
This is the plant I have, but here is something fascinating. Their shape means water doesn’t evaporate from them easily, but that also means they have less surface area to photosynthesis. A problem. No problem to the plant. Each leaf has an ” epidermal window.” This window allows light to enter and irradiated the interior of the leaf, so increasing the area available for photosynthesis.
Curio herreanous thrives on neglect and can be easily overwhelmed by too much attention.
Let us travel with the word overwhelmed first from Jackie Kennedy:
‘ One must not let oneself be overwhelmed by sadness.’
Then John H. Johnson:
‘ Dream small dreams . If you make them too big, you get overwhelmed, and you don’t do anything. If you make small goals and accomplish them, it gives you confidence to carry on to higher goals.’
Lastly, a poet Rudyard Kipling:
‘ The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe . If you try it, you will be lonely often and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning oneself.’
Take care my thoughts are with those experiencing the heat and winds of fire.
Take care of yourselves,
Sandy 🙂
