Herbal remedy –How safe (Part 2)

Often times when I come across herbs, the first thought that usually flashed through my mind is that they should not be taken lightly because they can have powerful effect on one’s system either good or bad.
Herbs are good, and irrespective of the mode of presentation they are also medicine. A lot of care should be exercised in it’s administration because when taken wrongly, some are known to cause kidney and liver failure and sometimes death.
Local herbal preparations, by people who did not undergo proper training can be immensely harmful. Some of the possible lapses that can be found with herbal preparations are:

• Mis-identification of certain plants used for the preparation because, it is possible that some plants may look alike but are not even related, such can easily be mistaken or misidentified at the time of the user’s purchase or when the plants were picked from their source.
• Contamination with pesticide residues, lead, microorganisms, insecticides etc. is possible because these preparations are not under the scrutiny or controls that conventional drugs must endure by the laws of most countries where these herbs were produced.
• Lack of standardization is another major lapse we should take note of, because components of plants vary in quantity and quality depending on the part of the plant used, stage of ripeness weather and season when the plant is grown, harvested and stored. For maximum potency, it is important that particular herbs be harvested at the optimum moment. Therefore, batch-to-batch reproducibility of plant material in marketed products is difficult to achieve or assess in practice. Product variation in herbal medicines is large and significant. Such variations in medication have disturbing clinical implications.
• Most accompanying instructions and method of preparation are inadequate and sometimes wrong and the user often misappropriates the ones that come with the right instructions and methods of preparations.

To this end I will say that we should all watch closely, observation coupled with good judgment is necessary in life.

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I can't express my surprise at coming across Oluwayinka,a consultant Human Resources development Trainer, Brand and Public Relations expert as well as a public speaker.He authors a blog that is full of inspirational messages and divine influence,which is a must read for everyone.I was particularly touched by one of his posts titled "Accepting the gift of you" and a lot of others too numerous to mention.Please take time out to visit Oluwayinka a daily inspiring nudgets that keep individuals going.

Humility.

Recalling the account of Luke 18:10-14,where two men went up into the temple to pray, one a holy man and the other a tax collector. Remember that the holy man stood and prayed thus, 'God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this lousy tax collector. I fast twice a week, I give tithes of all that I get.'

But the tax collector, standing far away, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me a sinner!'

And Jesus explained: 'I tell you, this tax collector went home forgiven, rather than the holy man; for every one who praises himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be praised.'

From this, it is easy to deduce that Jesus often called for humility and condemned those who sought honor. The tax collector see himself as not just any sinner but the worst of all sinners, it is no wonder that he went down to his house justified. That humble tax collector had it right. He was doing the only thing you and I can do to be accepted by God. He just asked – with humility.
Beware of the proud holy man who hangs a bunch of rules around your neck.

Be humble so that you will not stumble.

Behold, I am coming soon.

This is just to spice up your day,enjoy it.

A young seminary student was to preach to a congregation as part of his practical exam.Upon mounting the rostrum he found out that his sermon notes were missing.He only recalled his topic, which says "Behold, I am coming soon". he kept repeating the topic as he searched through his bible for the notes. In a desperate bid, he knocked down the pulpit which then crashed on an old lady seated in the front row. When he apologised to her she said, "It is my fault because you warned me three times that you were coming soon".

Herbal remedies – How safe

Herbal remedies have been with us in various forms for centuries. Unfortunately our forefathers had no written records of the mechanism of action of these drugs, their dosages and preparation but rather cloaked their knowledge and activities heavily in mysticism and magic, handed down orally to a chosen few.
This valuable knowledge is at risk of being permanently lost. Quack herbalist flash adverts that promise concoctions to cure just about everything in one single formula. Modernized, neatly packaged herbal preparations flood our market, consuming a large amount of precious foreign exchange, and claiming to manage everything from menopause, to obesity and AIDS. This issue is to draw our attention to the fact that written records of the mechanism of action of these drugs, their dosages and preparation but rather cloaked their k Herbal remedies have been with us in various forms for centuries. Unfortunately our forefathers had no written records of the mechanism of action of these drugs, their dosages and preparation but rather cloaked their knowledge and activities heavily in mysticism and magic, handed down orally to a chosen few.
This valuable knowledge is at risk of being permanently lost. Quack herbalist flash adverts that promise concoctions to cure just about everything in one single formula. Modernized, neatly packaged herbal preparations flood our market, consuming a large amount of precious foreign exchange, and claiming to manage everything from menopause, to obesity and AIDS. This issue is to draw our attention to the fact that e and activities heavily in mysticism and magic, handed down orally to a chosen few.
This valuable knowledge is at risk of being permanently lost. Quack herbalist flash adverts that promise concoctions to cure just about everything in one single formula. Modernized, neatly packaged herbal preparations flood our market, consuming a large amount of precious foreign exchange, and claiming to manage everything from menopause, to obesity and AIDS.

Strictly speaking, herbal remedies are products of non-woody parts of plants: leaves, flowers, stems, bark and roots, used in the relief and treatment of ailments. In the commonly used sense however, herbal remedies tend to refer to preparations of plant products, minerals, animal parts and sometimes, significant amounts of alcohol.
Herbal medicine has a long respected history cutting across cultures and handed down from generation to generation. Many familiar medications of the twentieth century were developed from ancient treatments of health problems with specific plants. Ancient Mayan women ate certain yam tubers raw every six months to prevent pregnancy. This was a closely guarded secret, kept even from their men. Today a large number of medicines are plant products or derivatives of their active ingredients that have been researched, synthesized and packaged in large pharmaceutical laboratories. In spite of these advances, a huge amount of plants remain unexplored in our threatened forests and beneath our waters. Modern science has only brushed the surface of this magical world.
Common presentations of herbal medicines include pastes, powders, pessaries, suspensions, water and alcohol based solutions commonly called Agbo, and recently neatly packaged tablets, capsules and other forms, sold under various trade names.


To be continued.
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In a prison hospital

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Here's a conversation that took place between a prisoner and a prison doctor.......

Prisoner: Look here, doctor! You've already removed my spleen, tonsils, adenoids, and one of my kidneys. I only came to see if you could get me out of this place!

Doctor: Be patient. I am doing just that…one bit at a time.

Miracle Tree Of August

I’m not sure what happened, but almost as soon as the ink was dry on our marriage certificate, everything seemed to go wrong for my husband and me as a couple. As nice as most of his family was, there were still a few family members who just enjoyed causing trouble, and if they could put me, or something I did, in a bad light, they did. There were also a few people in my family who didn’t help matters, either. They would pounce on any problem that they thought we might be having, making the problems that all newlywed couples have much worse.
Like many women, I found that my husband wasn’t very good at communicating. Instead of discussing our problems and trying to deal with them, my husband would just clam up or walk away. I tried to get him to understand that if we stood together as one and kept our faith in the Lord as our foundation for a strong marriage, other people would see our united front and not be any real threat to us no matter what they said or did, making our lives a lot more peaceful and happy. But as the months turned into years and my husband didn’t do any of those little things that make a wife feel special and all I got were comments that “life used to be more fun before we got married,” I slowly turned myself off from our marriage.
Oh, I did all the things I thought were right—I made his favorite foods, hemmed his pants, fixed snacks for his friends, and mowed the lawn if he was sick with a cold—but I only did them mechanically, with little or no feeling, as though I were just going through the motions. I often prayed to God, telling Him that He would have to deal with this burden if He wanted this marriage saved because I no longer had the strength to deal with the situation on my own.
One dry, hot August day, though, I stepped outside to find my husband planting a beautiful evergreen tree in the corner of our yard—something I had wanted for a very long time. I almost couldn’t believe my eyes. When I met my husband’s eyes, I could see a kindness and quiet joy that I hadn’t seen in him for a long time. In that instant, the considerate things my husband had been doing for me for the past few months suddenly came to mind—things that I’d become too numb to really notice and appreciate: buying me flowers on the way home from work, listening to what I had to say, running some errands for me, and being nice to my friends.
That day, my husband and I talked together like we did before we got married and it was wonderful to share our hearts and our thoughts.
“I know I’ve been an awful fool,” my husband told me, “but it just seemed easier for a while not to deal with our problems and I guess I thought they’d just go away. But I’ll never let anyone or anything ever come between us again.”
When we left the site of our little evergreen tree we walked hand in hand, tears glistening in our eyes. My husband was wrong for getting moody, turning away from me, and not dealing with our problems head on right from the start of our marriage, but I was wrong, too. I was so busy allowing myself to turn cold and unfeeling that I couldn’t even see all of the nice things that my husband had started doing to show his love for me, and the signs of true regret for how he’d acted.
Today, we often look at our lovely evergreen tree that has grown a lot and thrived over the years, despite being planted during the dry, hot days of August. That tree has become a symbol of the united love we now share—a love that thankfully, God would not let us lose. We know that it’s truly our miracle tree of August.

Leave the past where it belongs..............in the past.

The past!everyone has it, either good or bad,but the ability to forget and leave the past to the infinite mercy of God, the future to his good providence and give the present wholly to his love by being faithful to his grace is what make us victorious.

Are you ever disturbed by memories? Wouldn't it be nice to simply click the DELETE KEY and erase the pain while leaving only happy recol­lections?

I like the story of the minister who passed along to a beginning pastor a trick he used when he noticed the congregation nodding off.

"I suddenly say to them, 'Last night I held another man's wife in my arms.' And, when eve­ry­­­one sits up shocked, I continue, 'It was my own dear mother.'"

The young preacher liked it and was ready the following Sunday when most of his congrega­tion was drowsing. He said in a loud voice, "You know, last night I held another man's wife in my arms

Stunned, the congregation sat bolt upright and stared. Unnerved, the young preacher stam mered, "Oh dear -- I've forgotten who she was."

Have you ever wanted to take back an embarrassing moment, a hasty decision, or a word spoken in the heat of anger? The problem is, some things can't be taken back! Some hurts cannot be undone. And unfortunately, no delete key can correct the past so that memories no longer hurt, frighten or humiliate.

The past is what it is ------- past. And that, too, is good to remember. It is past. Over. Finished. There is no taking it back, yet no purpose is served in re-living and rehashing old memories. It is gone. Let it be a teacher. Let us learn from its harsh les­sons as well as its joys.
Then let us leave it where it be­longs -- in the past and move on to the land of new beginnings where all of our past mistakes and heartaches, And all of our poor selfish grief,could be dropped like a shabby old coat at the door and never be put on again.

Why don't you ask for the grace to put the past in the past and BEGIN AGAIN.

Thanks for Your Time

It had been some time since Jack had seen the old man. College, girls, career, and life itself got in the way. In fact, Jack moved clear across the country in pursuit of his dreams. There, in the rush of his busy life, Jack had little time to think about the past and often no time to spend with his wife and son. He was working on his future, and nothing could stop him.
Over the phone, his mother told him, "Mr. Belser died last night. The funeral is Wednesday." Memories flashed through his mind like an old newsreel as he sat quietly remembering his childhood days.
"Jack, did you hear me?"
"Oh, sorry, Mom. Yes, I heard you. It's been so long since I thought of him. I'm sorry, but I honestly thought he died years ago," Jack said.
"Well, he didn't forget you. Every time I saw him he'd ask how you were doing. He'd reminisce about the many days you spent over 'his side of the fence' as he put it," Mom told him.
"I loved that old house he lived in," Jack said.
"You know, Jack, after your father died, Mr. Belser stepped in to make sure you had a man's influence in your life," she said.
"He's the one who taught me carpentry," he said. "I wouldn't be in this business if it weren't for him. He spent a lot of time teaching me things he thought were important... Mom, I'll be there for the funeral," Jack said.
As busy as he was, he kept his word. Jack caught the next flight to his hometown. Mr. Belser's funeral was small and uneventful. He had no children of his own, and most of his relatives had passed away.
The night before he had to return home, Jack and his Mom stopped by to see the old house next door one more time. Standing in the doorway, Jack paused for a moment. It was like crossing over into another dimension, a leap through space and time. The house was exactly as he remembered. Every step held memories. Every picture, every piece of furniture.... Jack stopped suddenly.
"What's wrong, Jack?" his Mom asked. "The box is gone," he said. "What box?" Mom asked. "There was a small gold box that he kept locked on top of his desk. I must have asked him a thousand times what was inside. All he'd ever tell me was 'the thing I value most,'" Jack said.
It was gone. Everything about the house was exactly how Jack remembered it, except for the box. He figured someone from the Belser family had taken it.
"Now I'll never know what was so valuable to him," Jack said. "I better get some sleep. I have an early flight home, Mom."
It had been about two weeks since Mr. Belser died. Returning home from work one day Jack discovered a note in his mailbox. "Signature required on a package. No one at home. Please stop by the main post office within the next three days," the note read.
Early the next day Jack retrieved the package. The small box was old and looked like it had been mailed a hundred years ago. The handwriting was difficult to read, but the return address caught his attention. "Mr. Harold Belser" it read. Jack took the box out to his car and ripped open the package. There inside was the gold box and an envelope. Jack's hands shook as he read the note inside. "Upon my death, please forward this box and its contents to Jack Bennett. It's the thing I valued most in my life." A small key was taped to the letter. His heart racing, as tears filling his eyes, Jack carefully unlocked the box. There inside he found a beautiful gold pocket watch. Running his fingers slowly over the finely etched casing, he unlatched the cover. Inside he found these words engraved: "Jack, Thanks for your time! Harold Belser."
"The thing he valued most...was...my time." Jack held the watch for a few minutes, then called his office and cleared his appointments for the next two days. "Why?" Janet, his assistant asked. "I need some time to spend with my son," he said. "Oh, by the way, Janet...thanks for your time!

""Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take but by the moments that take our breath away.

The Act of Kindness.

The act of being a good or benevolent person in nature or disposition. It is essential for us as Christians to have sympathetic attitude toward others, and willingness to do good or give pleasure. Kindness makes a person attractive; a person that is not kind is simply cruel. Always be willing to show your love and kindness to everyone even when it is not appreciated or reciprocated, because it is written: “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it." (Heb 13:2).

Sometimes ago I read the story of a man who didn't like the way he was treated by his bank manager simply because he wore construction clothes to the bank to make a withdrawal. He was looked at and treated as if he had crawled out from under a rock.
The problem began when he went to the Bank to cash a $100 check. When he tried to get his parking slip validated to save 60 cents, a receptionist refused, saying he hadn't conducted a transaction. "You have to make a deposit," she told him. When told he was a substantial depositor, she looked at him as if . . . . . . .. So what.
He asked to see the manager, who also refused to stamp the ticket. The man went to the bank headquarters vowing to withdraw his $2 million-plus unless the manager apologized. No one called. So the next day, he withdrew his money. And the bank lost a valuable customer.

The way and manner a lot of us had treated people in the past has left nothing much to be desired. Some of us treat others as if they were not God’s creation. Even as Christians, in our churches today we have class segregation, the rich to the rich and the poor to the poor. I think it is important for us to know that as far as God almighty is concerned we are one irrespective of our lineage, ethnicity, class, social differences, colour, background and what have you.

Always remember,

2 Cor 8:7 - But as you excel in everything – in faith, in speech, in knowledge, and in all eagerness and in the love from us that is in you make sure that you excel in this act of KINDNESS too.

Gal 5:22 - But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, KINDNESS, goodness, faithfulness,

Col 3:12 - Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with a heart of mercy, KINDNESS, humility, gentleness, and patience,

I think all this should make a difference in someone’s attitude to others.

Be blessed always.

Hut On Fire.

Once upon a time a ship was wrecked and the only survivor of the ship was washed up on a small,uninhabited island. He prayed feverishly for GOD to rescue him, and everyday he scanned the horizon for help, but none seemed forthcoming.Exhausted, he eventually managed to build a little hut out of driftwood to protect himself from the elements, and to store the few possessions he was able to salvage.

One day, after scavenging for food, he arrived home to find his little hut in flames, with smoke rolling up to the sky. The worst had happened, and everything was lost. He was stunned with disbelief,grief,and anger.

He started blaming God saying "GOD, how could you do this to me?" .
Early the next day he was awakened by the sound of a ship that was approaching the island.It had come to rescue him. "How did you know I was here?" asked
the weary man of his rescuers. "We saw your smoke signal," they
replied.

It's always easy to get discouraged when things are going bad, but we shouldn't lose heart, because GOD is at work in our lives, even in the midst of pain, and suffering.

Remember that, the next time your little hut seems to be
burning to the ground. It just may be a smoke signal that summons the Grace of GOD.
Always remember, 1 Cor 15:10 - But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me has not been in vain. In fact, I worked harder than all of them – yet not I, but the grace of God with me.
Remain blessed always.