Pomegranate, lemon, and honey juice in a handblown glass by a renown Swedish glass artist Ebba von Wachenfeldt whose glassworks have been commissioned by 19 Glas and Sweden's 2010 Restaurant of the Year Frantzén/Lindeberg. In this juice, the pomegranate seeds that are rich with medicinal properties are also blended in the machine until smooth.

 

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Photo location: Visby, Gotland, Sweden

 

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All images are exclusive property and may not be copied, downloaded, reproduced, transmitted, manipulated or used in any way without expressed, written permission of the photographer.

 

 

 

On growing — lesson learned:

 

While riding in an elevator in a Spokane hotel, Bayard Rustin was ordered by a white man to lace up his shoes. Without objection or hesitation, he did as he was ordered. The man then handed him a tip. Rustin refused, saying, "Oh, I didn't do it for money. I assumed you really needed help." The man was extremely embarassed and then apologetic. He invited Rustin to come to his room where they had meaningful exchange on the subject of human relations.

 

You may say, "But I could never act like that!" It is not easy. It takes great inner strength, which comes only from feellings of self respect and mature self-love. The man obviously had a poor regard for himself, and that was the root of his discrimination. Rustin could treat the man lovingly without offense simply because the act of obvious discrimination was no threat to his security. He was established in the reality of his own being, which was love. Thus, he could easily love his neighbor as himself, for he easily loved and respected himself.

 

Note that Bayard Rustin had a choice. He could have taken offense and then reacted in hostility and anger. But in that case, he would have revealed a lack of self-respect. Or, as he did, he could simply BE what he knew himself to be — a creature centered in the love of the Infinite, which was adequate to help and heal any situation. No one would have criticized him if he had chosen the way of anger, for that is the way of the world. However, the wise man will always ask himself, "Why should I let another person determine how I am going to act?" The apostle Paul had often faced this kind of choice, thus it was from his own painful experience that he urged us not to let the world around us squeeze us into its own mold, but rather to let God remold our minds from within. Every one of us has a choice many times a day whether to react to situations in human consciousness, or, as Meister Eckhart might say, to let God be God in you.

 

— Eric Butterworth, "Life is for Loving"