Saturday, November 05, 2005

Weekend words J

You know, I was going to vent about the difficulties of this week but what good does that do? So I will just day "Thank you" to Patti and Lorna for their comments and get right to the vocabulary. (Yes, thanks to the rest of you also. I just wanted to welcome these two to this blog.) Tomorrow's Sunday school lesson is from the book of James (there's a J-word) which advises, in the last chapter, that when things are not going well to pray. Good advice.

There is a type of grass which grows in Asia and which produces hard bead-like structures around the base of the flower stem. When the flower ripens, these spheres can be harvested and used as ornamental beads. The plant is similar to corn (maize for all you non-Americans) and can grow ten feet tall. Here's the J-connection: among the several names by which this grass is called, two are JOB'S-TEARS or JUNO'S-TEARS. Now why would a pearly-white tear-shaped bead be named for either of these two characters? In Mexico, it is considered good luck to carry seven of these in your pocket. This is all too strange. Is there an expectation that God would bless the bearer of Job's tears just as he blessed Job at the end of his harrowing experience? I just could not find the Juno connection. By the way, did you know that the month of June is named for her?

2 comments:

spookyrach said...

That's pretty cool. Mindy will be way impressed by this for sure. I'd never heard of this plant before.

Where are the pictures of impossible to guess items scattered around your house? I miss them in the way you miss playing the lottery - no way to win, but fun to try nonetheless. Besides, if I turn to a life of crime I need to know what to look for when burglarizing your place.

jonboy said...

Interesting plant.

Sorry to hear that you had a bad week. Hope this one is better.