I read an article today in Shape magazine and was stoked over this term: ethnobotanist. An Ethnobotanist is a scientist who studies how people use plants. So in the pages that followed, there were suggestions on how to make home remedies for ailments that can be treated with the medicinal properties in plants.

This just sparked in me a few things.

WHAT?! THERE'S SUCH A THING?!?!?! WHY DIDN'T I KNOW? I'D HAVE GONE AND LEFT AND STUDIED THIS! (and of course, get out of Singapore's boring, boring pool of occupations and university courses)

Okay, well, yes the above and...

1) Passion

Yesterday, mum asked me: "what is your passion?"
I answered: Animals.

On hindsight, i should have said "nature". I love nature. It calms and fascinates me. Brings me close to God. Nature is insane. That is, insanely creative, ingenious, overwhelming, encompassing, unified.

2) "Aromatherapy" (i use this term loosely) and other natural remedies isn't Evil

I disagree with the belief that using plants for healing and recovery is something that is "not from God", as some people may say.

Think about this for a moment. The very ingredients that modern medicine is derived from are cultivated from natural elements --> Plants/Organisms. Who created plants and organisms? God. So if Christians can see medicine as one way that God helps man to heal from sickness, why not plants?

After all, God CREATED these very plants to have their medicinal properties. He basically provided His children on Earth with, i quote Shape magazine, "an all-in-one living supermarket, pharmacy and home improvement centre". God is an extravagant God. He blessed us with nature and all it has to offer, for our benefit. And it isn't just for the pretty view.

So, it isn't as airy fairy or as "new age" as it's made out to be. As long as we know who created all of these, and thank Him, the One who provided.

(Back to Passion. I love things to do with health. beauty. i'm vain, told ya! but i share good tips too!. sports. music. food and cooking.)
(so what am i doing being a counsellor to humans? well... That's God's doing. :) it's the passion to follow His will even though it scares me BAD. i always have thoughts of running away. But there's something i heard recently: fear is used by satan to stop us from doing God's will because he doesn't want us going where we should. so how? Lean on God, His love (God is Love, yo.). And as the wise book says, there is no fear in love.

Yet, the truth is. I always had this feeling that being a counsellor is my calling for this season, but may not necessarily be so for the rest of my life. I don't know if people have heard me, but when i share my testimony of why i'm in this profession, i always add, "I definitely know that this is what God wants for me to do, for now."

There, i said it in black and white.