Ginger Garrett

Fox News is running a picture today, taken by a teen in a castle in Scotland. The photo of a beautiful staircase shows a ghostly figure and a very obvious ghostly hand holding onto the stairwell. He insists the picture is authentic, scientists are giving a hundred reason why it can’t be.

Which catches my attention because I am reading Ghost Hunters: William James and the Search for Scientific Proof of Life After Death, by Deborah Blum. An incredible, fascinating read! William James was a professor at Harvard and led a team of scientists to see if there was any scientific proof of the afterlife. They met with absolute fury from the science camp, most especially their colleagues who were promoting Darwinism. William James became a crusader for truth, even when truth can’t be explained by science.

Science tells us there is absolutely no supernatural, spiritual world operating around us. Scripture tells us there is, but doesn’t explain much about it. In polls, Americans say they believe in angels, but not usually demons or the devil. Plenty of people believe in ghosts, too. We’re willing to believe without evidence–but a lot of us don’t know exactly what to believe. We just pick what sounds good, like we do when we read a menu.

If we do choose to believe in the Bible–the idea of a very present God who loves us, and the ministry of angels in our lives, (as well as the dark work of the demonic) it will require leaving off from science at some point. We will have to trust in another intelligence, beyond the scope of human understanding. We may have to swallow our pride a bit, too. I’ve had to do that. In some literary circles, it’s not chic to believe anything. It takes courage to believe. It takes courage to hope. I do believe in a supernatural world. I do believe in Jesus as the Son of God, in angels, in demons, and a world we cannot measure or know.

But you know, the more I write, the more books I sell, the easier it is for friends and readers out there to say. “Yep. I believe that too.” We create the knowledge that we’re not alone–in this world, or the next.

Fridays I answer email from readers… and here are this week’s top questions:

1. Melinda wrote to ask what she can do about under-eyes circles.

First, there is a very detailed, interesting answer found at the Green Beauty blog. Check it out here:

http://thegreenbeautyguide.com/?p=46

You should know that dark under-eye circles are also referred to by doctors as “allergy shiners.” If your circles come and go, or are worse at certain times of the year, they are most likely caused by allergies. I would recommend a doctor visit, and using a neti pot every night for amazing, and healthy, results. You can buy neti pots at drugstores everywhere, often sold as “sinus cleansing systems.” Neti pots date back thousands of years, and work by washing the allergens out of your nasal passages before your body has to mount a allergic response to them.

2. Marie asks, “Why don’t you have your new book on your website yet?”

Egads, she’s got me on that one. I am sending all the material today to my webmaster. Next week he’ll be loading the gorgeous cover (subscribers to my newsletter have already seen it!) plus a free first chapter. Ther novel is In The Shadow of Lions, and kicks off a new series called Chronicles of the Scribe. Each book will focus on the most influential women in history and the guardian angels who watched over them.

My next newsletter goes out next Wednesday, and it’s packed with some cool tips for summer and an announcement about a special gift for bookclubs across the country. If you’re in one, or want to start one, make sure you’re receiving the newsletter!

In the Middle Ages, religion was the way of life. The Church controlled all material issues of your present life and all hope for the afterlife.  

Angels abounded. Complex hierarchies were developed which have no mention in canonical Scriptures. There were levels of heaven, and orders of angels. The mightiest were the Seraphim, serpent-angels who circled the throne chanting Holy, Holy, Holy. This was said to be the song of creation, and the vibration the angels created rang through the air, materializing here on earth into life. Satan was said to be a Seraphim.  (There is some Scriptural documentation of both this class of angels called Seraphim and their cry of Holy, Holy, Holy, but the rest of the story seems to be overeager human embellishment.) 

We did not approach God directly. If you needed God’s attention or forgiveness, you consulted a priest. Angels were an intermediary between people and God, much like priests. Angels were believed to control events, weather, moods, and phenomenon. We put great trust in the angels and their merciful care. 

Then the worst disaster to ever hit humanity occurred: the Black Death arrived in Sicily in October 1348.  

The climate had been changing, war between Muslims and Christians was bitter, and a natural disaster made good use of the chaos. Estimates range from one-third to one-half of Europe was destroyed in the most gruesome, grisly death imaginable.  

For the first time in history, angels fell from their place of high esteem among humans. We doubted the Church. We doubted angels. We doubted mercy.  We began to believe in the power of evil. Demons and the Devil occupied our every thought; angels quickly went from mighty warriors watching over us to chubby babies with wings that simply amused us. Demons assumed their place of power and authority in our culture.  

Crisis controls faith for many of us, then and now. This is the battle of the angels: that we risk belief in the tenderness of God, despite the horrors of earth, and become willing to believe that indeed, “Mercy and Goodness follow me wherever I go.”

Good Calories, Bad Calories by Gary Taubes is an intriguing book. I’m quoting from it below to help me answer a reader email. My reader asked, “How can I get rid of the weight that is around my outer thighs? Do any products work?”

Liposuction may be the only proven method to spot reduce, but doctors have noticed an unusual phenomenon. When a woman has liposuction on her hips or thighs, fat will sometimes reappear in other places. Some women experience a sudden growth spurt in their bustlines (not too shabby!) but others develop a “spare tire.” What’s going on?

Our bodies may be reacting to a DNA-driven directive.

In Good Calories, Bad Calories, author Gary Taubes relates a fascinating story:

“A twelve year old girl…burned the back of her hand. Her doctors used skin from her abdomen as a graft over the burn. By the time this girl turned thirty, she had grown fat, and the skin that had been transplanted to the back of her hand had grown fat as well.” A second operation removed the fattened tissue.

Scientists believe that some areas of our bodies are genetically programmed to gain fat and keep it, despite our best efforts. Trying to change the pattern of fat accumulation may be as likely as changing the color of our eyeballs. Just as certain areas of our bodies will hold onto their fat (even if they’re transplanted, it seems)  our bodies may be drive to maintain a certain amount of fat. This may be why we can alter our fat deposits through liposuction and the fat will reaccumulate elsewhere, and why so many people experience rebound weight gain after diets.

I loved Good Calories, Bad Calories, because it is a nonbiased exploration of the science–and myths–behind everything we believe to be true about our bodies and weight. It’s not a weight loss book or diet manual. (It’s also not a light beach read either.) But it offers us freedom from shame by reinforcing what I believe to be true: our bodies are built with a specific design that is not going to cooperate with trends and fads.

If you believe that a divine God shaped your body, and set its DNA, you can release your shame about its design. Your body doesn’t represent who you are–it represents who God is.

Live joyously, eat gratefully, and know that you are “accepted in the beloved.” (Ephesians 1:6)

Wherever there is crisis, on a personal or a global level, belief in the supernatural increases. In moments of distress, we need to believe we’re not alone. In

But who are the angels?

In the Old Testament, angels served as heavenly couriers, delivering news of God’s intentions and instructions to humans. In the New Testament, angels are referred to as servants sent to tend to needs of believers.

Why the change from messenger to minister?

After the death and resurrection of Jesus, a new element in the spiritual life was introduced: the Holy Spirit. Through this Spirit, or as some call it, the Holy Ghost, God is able to deliver messages personally. (The Scriptures, of course, remain the primary source of divine revelation, and the principle means through which God still speaks.)

Now that believers have the Holy Spirit, we have less need for third parties delivering messages from God. (Our need for tender guardians, however, has not decreased.) Today’s angels play less of a role in instructing us and more of a role in caring for us.

Does each person have their own guardian angel?

Scriptures seem to hint that we do. But because angels are vast in number, it could be expected that we’re surrounded at any given moment by multiple angels.

What do they see in us?

Angels are eternal beings, meaning they have seen your distant past. They know who your ancestors were, why they fought and lived, and why they died. It’s my personal suspicion that the angel watching over each of you has followed your family line for generations. What stories he could tell!

And in my new novel, on sale late this summer, one of these angels will have a tale to tell, to a dying editor who has spent her life denying the existence of the Divine.

Many of you know that I began my career as a novelist by writing Chosen: The Lost Diaries of Queen Esther. It’s to her story I want to return today, just for a moment of contemplation.

Esther was a young girl forced into the madness of a harem, to compete for the sexual favors of a king. Esther had all the potential we could ever ask for: a strong mind, a healthy body, a wise heart. And yet, her potential was limited by her circumstances. All she would ever be treated as was a sex object. Right?

Esther didn’t fight the circumstances–she fought to be transformed by them. She stepped whole-heartedly into the degradation pressed around her and transformed a king, a palace, and a nation. Circumstances limited what she could become, but not who she could become. Oppression held a secret passage into opportunity.

That’s my prayer for each of us today: that we, like our ancient sister Esther, would believe that the oppression and heartache we face holds a key to an opportunity for transformation.  

Last week I spoke at a bookclub that was filled with the most charming, well-read women!  We talked of politics, religion, angels, and the afterlife. It was a rich night of discussion, and several questions still linger with me.

One question that came up, when I was discussing my upcoming novel In the Shadow of Lions, was about the question of the afterlife. Is there one?

Being raised a Baptist, I always believed in the afterlife. I had the vague impression that heaven was a place where they made you sing all four stanzas of a hymn, and so I didn’t want to go. Since today I specialize in the study of ancient and historical women, I’ve come to appreciate this question for what it is: “Am I secure?” We want to believe there will reunions, another embrace, time for healing words to be said, and a freedom from pain. Every generation of women has wondered this same question. Largely, we depend on our mothers to teach us the spiritual truths of life.

If we were Mesopotamian, our mothers would have said, “Only the gods are eternal. Death is the end for us.” Egpyptian women told their girls there was an afterlife, but not for them. Only the select few women in power, and the men of the government, got to the underworld.

Across all ancient religions and cultures, the afterlife is a common theme. Most believed that a pleasant experience was dependent on good earthly behaviour and appeasing the gods through sacrifice. Money was important to complete this transaction. Women who were not allowed to participate in public religious worship created shrines at home and created sub-cultures of religion.

What is startling about Christianity is that it was the first religion to say God must sacrifice for us. God must do the work so that we can approach Him in peace. It is not a campagn of self-improvement or rules; God says in the Christian scriptures that they don’t work to make our hearts pure. (Having lost a Thankgiving turkey two years in a row to my Saint Bernard, I can vouch for this. Knowing something is very, very wrong can’t even stop a sweet-natured dog from misbehavior.)

Christianity is a wild departure in history, which is why I believe in my bones it is Divine. Now we tell our girls about heaven, and guardian angels, and that a great big God loves little bitty them. We feel in our bones that we are not alone–the question is, who is this God with us? Who are these angels, the ones the ancient mothers called The Watchers?

Women, if you don’t believe in this God, that’s ok. You’re welcome here among friends. Women have been excluded from worship throughout too many years;  it’s time to bring all our sisters together, out of the shadows and to the warmth of the hearth. If you’re curious about this God, the angels or the afterlife, stick around.

The adventure is about to begin.

I took my daughter’s Girl Scout troop camping this past weekend. As usual, I was rushing to get everything packed, and I threw in a pair of very, very low-cut khaki pants. You see, I would never wear these in public, so I didn’t care if they got ruined on the camping trip. I planned on wearing a flece shirt that was mid-thigh length with them, so no one would ever see my spillage from all sides of the waistband.

We went for a long nature walk to a beautiful campsite overlooking a lake. I leaned down, my shirt falling up and forward, and sadly,  I exposed my behind with a big gap in my pants.

At this moment, a wasp flew towards the white light. I jerked upright, trapping him between my cheeks. He panicked. I panicked. He bit. I squeezed and slapped.

In the bathroom, as I nursed my wounds, he fell to the floor, flat as a pancake. I had no less than 6 stings in a place where no camp first aid ranger dared to render aid. 

So, ladies, remember: low riding pants are completely inappropriate for camping. And sometimes, just sometimes, you would swear you can hear God laughing.

Did you know apricots are believed to be the forbidden fruit of the Garden of Eden? Eve could not have been tempted by an apple: apple trees are not indigenous to the biblical lands. (Unless the Garden of Eden is really in Texas, which I have long suspected, being a Texan myself.)

The word apple is used in the scriptures as a reference to apricots. For example, Proverbs 25:11 compares a beautifully spoken word to a golden apricot nestled in a silver serving dish:

A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.

Today, we know that apricots are rich sources of vitamin A, fiber, and carotene, a phytonutrient that can help protect skin against aging UV rays from the sun.

Choose apricots as you would any fruit, looking for bruises and spoilage. They’re best eaten when at the very peak of ripeness, when the fruit is highest in antioxidants. Eat them fresh, with cream, and over cereal. Choose fresh over dried, unless you spend a bit more for organic dried apricots, which are not chemically treated during the drying process.

Enjoy!