Last week I wrote no posts due to many factors including sheer exhaustion. Today is the beginning of a new week and, I hope, one where I can get some of the things I put off accomplished.

Last Monday started off with a wasp sting which happened during my asparagus bean daily harvest.  It wasn’t bad and the pain went away quickly when I applied a homeopathic remedy I keep in the medicine chest. The sting reminded me of what every sin does to the soul, and how God’s grace takes away the pain and swelling affecting nearby areas. A single sin is like a wasp sting.  It only takes a minute but it causes trouble in the soul beyond the small entry wound.

Many stings make for a very bumpy and sick soul. The habit of many small sins eventually will kill the soul unless we submit to God’s remedy of repentance and forgiveness. Getting stung made me resolve to be more vigilant in my spiritual life and to avoid situations where I might get stung so that I will have a smooth, clean soul to present to the Father. There’s no avoiding the asparagus beans, though.  Every stinging insect in the area loves them for the nectar from the flowers, but they usually leave me alone. God just wanted to teach me a lesson Monday morning about how sin hurts us, and somebody at that moment needed grace from the discomfort I offered to Him.

Last Tuesday I went to get my teeth cleaned and learned that my bottom front teeth need to be capped, at an exorbitant price I might add.  My husband called the Kansas City Dental College and we made a day trip there on Thursday for a second opinion.  It turns out that if I don’t replace the 32 year old caps on the top and let them re-engineer my bite, capping the bottom two won’t last. So for more than double the cost of two caps, I’ll get six caps and a fix that will last the rest of my life.  We will scramble to find the money somehow and we will have to make several more all-day trips to get it done over the next three months.  The quality and workmanship will be superb, but I wish I didn’t need it done.

On the way home Thursday, warning lights showed up on the dashboard.  Great.  It turns out something is wrong in the brake system and the fix will be around $900. Is it safe to get out of bed yet?  I want to hide under the covers.

Along came the Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost and Jesus had the right words for me in the Gospel of Matthew.  In an exhausting and disappointing week, He gave me the reminder to trust in the Father and not to stress out, even though I am so tired of being so tired and so tired of big bills lately:  Mt. 6: 25-27 and 32-34:

Therefore I say to you, do not be anxious for your life, what you shall eat; nor yet for your body, what you shall put on.  Is not the life a greater thing than the food, and the body than the clothing? Behold the birds of the air: they do not sow, nor reap, or gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them.  Are not you of much more value than they? But which of you by being anxious about it can add to his stature a single cubit?

…for your Father knows that you need all these things.   But seek ye therefore first the kingdom of God and His justice, and all these things shall be added unto you.

These words renewed my spirit and could not have been more timely. My desire for the rest of my life is to detach from the world and trust in God while suffering with joy. Have you noticed that whenever you ask God to help you acquire a virtue He sets up ways to give you plenty of practice?

V. Praised be Jesus Christ.*

R. Now and forever.  Amen.

*click on the link to read why I’m ending all my posts with this.

This is the hottest, most unrelenting summer heat we’ve known since arriving in southern Missouri in 1993, but the asparagus beans love it.  They are living up to their reputation of being disease resistant, but have attracted the weirdest looking beetles I’ve ever seen. Beetles gross me out, but after spraying with Neem for several weeks, hardly any are left.

These guys are about 1 1/2 inch long, black, with legs that are hair-thin.  The right front leg has something like a fin attached.  They line up 4-5 in a row down the length of the bean and darned if I can figure out what they’re doing.  I’ll spare you a photo because I can’t bring myself to look at them long enough to focus a camera.  I can’t find anything on the internet about these bugs so I don’t know if they’re good or bad, but something has been chewing holes in the older leaves. The newer growth seems fine.  If anybody out there thinks you know what these beetles are, let me know because I’d like to find out more about them. At one point there were so many of them they were crawling on the tomatoes, too.

This morning I went out and clipped quite a few beans to go with the ones I harvested the past two days.  The two gallon bowl was full with beans draping over the sides so it was time to chop and steam them for freezing. They taste delicious in stir fry, Italian food, egg fritatas, or as a side dish.  Over the past few days the vines have been flowering prolifically.  The color is gorgeous so I wanted to share it with readers and took this photo this morning.  We are going to have a huge new harvest very soon.  I highly recommend these beans for simple gardeners like me.

Some things I’ve learned about growing and harvesting these beans:

1. They like full sun.  The second batch of beans I planted by the east gate didn’t get as many hours of light as the 5 I put elsewhere, so they were slower to produce.  However, they are doing well and covered with blossoms like the first batch.  They are just a little behind the others in production.
   
2. What is really weird is that the ugly beetles that got on the full sun batch didn’t bother the shadier batch even though they are planted not far from each other.  I can’t figure that one out.
3. Clipping the beans with scissors is the easiest way to harvest them.  If you clip them just at the top of the bean and below the nodule of the flower, you will get more flowers and more beans.
4. Every flower produces two beans.  Sometimes one bean is ready to harvest before its twin.
5. If you harvest when the beans are 15-18 inches long they cook faster than if you wait until they are 24 inches long.  Beans that are 12 inches long or less are so tender and delicious you can eat them raw.
6. The beans seem to hide behind the leaves.  I have to look at the plants from different angles and move the leaves to make sure I haven’t missed any that are ready to harvest.  Several times I missed beans and let them mature and dry out.  I’ve collected the beans inside the pods and will use them to start new bean plants next year.

Outside of the yucky beetles, I have to say that this vegetable is as easy to grow as the tomatoes.  Spraying with Neem has kept pests off everything.  For people who don’t want to exert too much physical effort and still provide healthy organic food for the table, and especially if you have a bunch of kids to feed, these beans really are an excellent crop. You get so much produce from a very small space it’s amazing.

From Wikipedia here is the nutritional breakdown of the beans:

They are a good source of protein, vitamin A, thiamin, riboflavin, iron, phosphorus, and potassium, and a very good source for vitamin C, folate, magnesium, and manganese.

In a serving size of 100 grams (3.5 oz.) of yardlong beans there are 47 calories, 0 grams of total fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 4 mg sodium (0% daily value), 8 grams of total carbohydrates (2% daily value), and 3 grams of protein (5% daily value). There is also 17% DV vitamin A, 2% DV iron, 31% DV vitamin C, and 5% DV calcium. (Percent daily values are based on a 2000 calorie diet. Individual daily values may be higher or lower depending on individual calorie needs.)

If you’ve missed them and are interested, you might like to read my two other postings about asparagus beans:

The Asparagus Bean Surprise

The Asparagus Bean Surprise II

Sunday Snippets is a weekly gathering of Catholic bloggers and readers over at This, That, and The Other Thing where we share our posts we think others might enjoy.  To join us visit RAnn’s blog.  If you are a blogger write a post linking to our hostess, go to her site and enter a link to your post.

This week in honor of Our Lady I posted an interpretation of a rare and beautiful renaissance painting of her.  At Decoding Sacred Art I explain it. Please share this with your friends as this painting should be much better known for its content and artistry.  I love to look at it and pray.

After learning that I am gluten sensitive, I researched and wrote an article on Gluten Sensitivity, Weight Gain, and Fibromyalgia. It’s all part of my journey into wellness that I hope it will help others, too.  The facts are surprising and I’ve included links for those who want to learn more.

This is my book review of a really worthwhile read: Salvation Is From the Jews. It made me appreciate more what God has done for us and helped me understand parts of the Bible better.

In Sabbath Moments I mention times this week where I consciously was with God.  At that post I include some great comments by a wonderful priest, Father Oscar Lukefahr.  You’ll want to read his book, The Privilege of Being Catholic.

Welcome to Sunday Snippets – A Catholic Carnival where Catholic bloggers list posts they want to share.  RAnn and This That and The Other Thing hosts this weekly gathering so visit her blog to find other Catholic blogs you may find interesting.

Roger and I got started with our garden planting late this week and we have more vegetables to get into the ground.  Thank God for Sundays because our aching bodies need a break. In between catching some sun and digging in dirt I wrote a few posts and created some art.

A highlight of the week was a discovery that we can get customized supplements to compensate for defective genes that dispose us to inherited diseases.  If you’ve been wondering what you can do to feel better or prevent health problems, take a look at DNA Nutritional Assessment.

In another post I go into more depth on The Great Benefits of the Nintendo Wii, which I recommend in my Custom Shop.

I relaxed this week by turning my mind to digital art.  To see a couple of my paintings visit Sharing Spring Through Digital Art.

In Sabbath Moments I posted some excerpts from a  homily Pope Benedict gave “off the cuff” on April 15th.   His clarity and focus is razor sharp as he speaks of obedience to God. We are so fortunate to have this great teacher leading the Church.

Will it be the blue pill or the red one?

Today we met with our insurance agent because I received notice that my supplemental Medicare policy was going up $40 a month.  No way is that in the budget.  When he came over he told us about an all-day meeting he attended yesterday on the Deathcare bill Congress just foisted on all of us while exempting themselves and all federal employees.  Among the many evils of the bill, he said that by 2015 Medicare will no longer pay for Home Health Care, Hospice Care, or “swing beds” – that is when someone has a major operation and can’t go home right away but must go to a nursing home for some days.  It seems that people will be expected to pay for these things with some kind of private insurance, yet everything in the bill is designed to drive private insurance out of business. Moreover, few will be able to afford the premiums. Without these services, many, many, many people will die.  It may not be euthanasia outright, but it is still going to lead to death by denial of care.  Eventually we will be forced to submit to being murdered.  I wonder how long it will take for all the people clamoring for free health care to find out that not only is it not free, they aren’t going to have access to what they need in the first place.

Pray, pray, pray for the deliverance of our country.

Fushimi, Imperial Palace, Tokyo, (c)Tomo.Yun (www.yunphoto.net/en/)

Wisdom 13:3 tells us God is “the author of beauty.”  In the Catechism of the Catholic Church #2500 we find this idea developed:

Even before revealing Himself to man in words of truth, God reveals Himself to him through the universal language of creation, the work of His Word, of His wisdom: the order and harmony of the cosmos – which both the child and the scientist discover – “from the greatness and beauty of created things comes a corresponding perception of their Creator,” “for the Author of beauty created them”. (Wisdom 13:3, 5)

The Catechism goes further in #2501:

Created “in the image of God” (Gen. 1:26), man also expresses the truth of his relationship with God the Creator by the beauty of his artistic works.  Indeed, art is a distinctively human form of expression; beyond the search for the necessities of life which is common to all living creatures, art is a freely given superabundance of the human being’s inner riches.  Arising from talent given by the Creator and from man’s own effort, art is a form of practical wisdom, uniting knowledge and skill, to give form to the truth of reality in a language accessible to sight or hearing.  To the extent that it is inspired by truth and love of beings, art bears a certain likeness to God’s activity in what He has created.  Like any other human activity, art is not an  absolute end in itself, but is ordered to and ennobled by the ultimate end of man. (cf. Pius XII, Musicae sacrae disciplina; Discourses of September 3 and December 25, 1950)

In his “Confessions”, St. Augustine reveals what happens when the pursuit of beauty is not ordered to God:

Roar of Flames, (c)Tomo.Yun (www.yunphoto.net/en/)

Late have I loved Thee, O Beauty so ancient and so new! Too late have I loved Thee. And lo, Thou wert inside me and I outside, and I sought for Thee there, and in all my unsightliness I flung myself on those beautiful things which Thou hast made. Thou wert with me and I was not with Thee. Those beauties kept me away from Thee, though if they had not been in Thee, they would not have been at all. Thou didst call and cry to me and break down my deafness. Thou didst flash and shine on me and put my blindness to flight. Thou didst blow fragrance upon me and I drew breath, and now I pant after Thee. I tasted of Thee and now I hunger and thirst for Thee. Thou didst touch me and I am aflame for Thy peace….

We can see in all of the above, a relationship exists between wisdom, truth, and beauty. One way the infinite All-Beautiful, All-Wise, All-Truth Creator reveals Himself to us is through beauty.  The pursuit of beauty rightly ordered is the pursuit of God.  And what makes something beautiful?  An inherent harmony, peace and order intrinsic to it.

Everyone needs to surround himself with some kind of beauty, especially the chronically ill.  Our bodies are discordant with disease; we are out of balance and disturbed to such an extent that all to much of our energy is spent coping and struggling to achieve some sense of equilibrium.  If we are open to it, looking at or listening to something beautiful restores inner peace and some sense of wellness.  It can spur us on to prayer and praise of God, and imperfect as earthly beauty is, it hints at the eternal harmony, order and joy we aspire to.  For many years now I have been practicing this and know that it works.  Earlier I wrote about the effect images of our beautiful Blessed Mother have on pain.  Sharing beauty will always be a part of this site.

Niju Bridge, Main Gate of Imperial Palace, Tokyo, (c)Tomo.Yun (www.yunphoto.net/en/)

Ever searching for beauty, yesterday I was looking for free stock photos to use at this site. Many pages into the Google list I stumbled upon an extraordinarily talented photographer who is willing to share his work for free as long as the user follows the terms of the license agreement at his site.  Yun is very generous.  You might enjoy reading about why here.  I find much of his work a real joy and thank God I have eyes to see.  If you visit his site, be prepared to stay awhile and be captivated by the beauty.   Perhaps other bloggers who come here may wish to use his work, or readers may like to download images for personal use.  Speaking as a professional photographer, copyright and credit is important to protect an artist and honor his work.