The Queen’s Garden

I watched a documentary called The Queen’s Garden. 

It was all about Queen Elizabeth II’s garden at Buckingham Palace. 

Talk about a beautiful place!

There are hundreds of species of birds and woodland creatures in the garden. Not to mention thousands of species of bugs and fungi. 

And, of course, the garden is home to hundreds of various flowers.

Two of the flowers were actually created to commemorate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and her 70th birthday. 

Another cool tidbit is that Queen Elizabeth has four beehives and several acres of mulberry bushes, which supply honey and berries for the royal family.

The garden is 40 acres and is one of the most beautiful sites in London. 

What I was most fascinated by is the history behind the garden–it goes all the back to Henry VIII! 

Can you imagine growing up with such a beautiful site as your playground?

English history has always intrigued me and The Queen’s Garden is well worth the watch. 

Escaping ISIS

I watched a documentary today that cemented my feelings and beliefs about Christianity’s role in helping refugees. 

PBS Frontline did a special last July on women prisoners of ISIS. 

Escaping ISIS documented the fate of the women and children of a particular sect of Islam, the Yazidi, who ISIS views worthy of being decimated because the Yazidi make the Islamic faith impure. 

When ISIS went into their villages, they killed the men and captured the women and children. 

There is a small group of Yazidi men who are working diligently to free their relatives from ISIS, creating an underground network of spies within and without ISIS territories. 

The saddest part of the documentary was watching the story of the woman caught in adultery (see John 8:2-11) with a horrible ending. 

ISIS leaders filmed a woman accused of adultery and sentenced to be stoned to death. The woman’s father was present and she asked him, “Father, can you please forgive me?” 

His response broke my heart: “God will not allow me to forgive you.”

The woman continued to ask for forgiveness, sobbing, as the leaders began to stone her. Her father joined in as well. 

For anyone who believes that God and Allah are one and the same, you’re dead wrong. 

The One True God is a loving and forgiving Father. His heart beats with love for us. 

This woman was killed and there was no forgiveness given to her like Jesus extended in John 8.

I understand that there’s no way the countries of the world can take in all the refugees. 

I understand it is dangerous to allow the refugees into our countries because ISIS infiltrates the refugee camps. 

But we as Christians can NEVER hate Muslim people. We can NEVER give up being involved in creative solutions to reach out to the refugees. 

I saw the tears of the women who recounted their brutal treatment under the ISIS regime. They lived in fear every day of their captivity. 

In fact, many women kill themselves because they feel utterly hopeless to escape the torture of the ISIS regime. 

There was an 18 year old girl who said, “I don’t know if I will ever be free from my fear, the nightmares that haunt me.”

I screamed at the TV, “Yes, you can be free! Jesus can heal your broken heart!”

This documentary has wrecked me…

The Muslim world is crying out for help, for hope. Don’t let ISIS win by poisoning your heart toward these people. 

Thoughts on Manor HouseĀ 

I checked out Manor House from the library. 

If you’ve ever watched Downton Abbey or Upstairs Downstairs then you’d probably enjoy this show. 

It’s a reality show where a group of people volunteer to live for 3 months following 20th century Edwardian societal rules. 

The upper crust live the high life, but the staff? They’re struggling to cope under the strain of the workload. 

It’s hard for me as a young person in the 21st century to understand the rigors of the working class at that time…

Imagine working 16 hours a day, 7 days a week for pennies per hour (servants were paid a lump sum per year).

Of course, times were different and that was a decent wage. The servants were also given shelter and food everyday, which was better than most people enjoyed. 

I appreciate history; however, I’m so glad to live in the 21st century!