Here are a few of the things I’ve been reading and responding to online.

Archaeologists Dig Up An 800-Year-Old Native American Pot. What They Found Inside Is Changing History. What they found inside were seeds from an extinct species of squash, which were later planted, grew, and scientists are now starting to cultivate.

A friend shared this on Facebook, and another person commented, “Interesting, but it's hardly ‘changing history.’” I will acknowledge that the title of the article is click-bait, yet I think the story of the squash is an important change in history. I replied

History is a social construct, too long dominated by European Men. Finding artifacts of a culture underrepresented and misrepresented in traditional history and bringing those artifacts to life, sure seems to me to be a very important change of history.

I also read a post from a person on Facebook saying, “My mama passed away today … I wish I could have a sign that she is in heaven”. I remembered the story of Florence Nightingale, tending a dying young prostitute and trying to reassure her of God’s love. I started searching for the quote, which I eventually found, but I also found some other great quotes as well.

From a Journal of Military and Veterans’ Health article:

She was a complex woman. Deeply religious, she believed that God spoke to her on four occasions when she was a young woman, always saying the same words: “I have work for you to do.” Frustratingly for Nightingale, this is all God said to her. She initially decided to await further instructions from God, but as the years passed, she came to realise that God wanted her to decide how to serve Him.

In another article, I found this quote,

I can't love because I am ordered. Least of all can I love One who seems only to make me miserable here to torture me hereafter. Show me that He is good, that He is loveable, and I shall love Him without being told.

Finally, I found the quote I was I was looking for

Oh, my girl, are you not now more merciful than the God you think you are going to? Yet the real God is far more merciful than any human creature ever was or can ever imagine.