Hi Friends! I hope you have had a lovely day. I've had a busy couple of days with produce! James and I picked pears and figs on Tuesday and today I made some homemade grape jelly and some fig preserves. The pears are a little green so I'm going to work on them tomorrow. Hopefully I can make some headway with at least getting them peeled and chopped and prepped for preserves (soaking them in sugar for 24 hours!)
The recipe I used for fig preserves today called for a baking soda soak before processing them into the actual product. I did a little search for the reason behind this and found two reasons -- thought it was interesting enough to share with y'all! You may already know this, but I didn't have a clue except from experience! It seems that figs are cleansed by the baking soda and hot water and in some cases it can remove the bitterness that less ripe figs can bring into the mix. It makes so much sense to me that it would "sweeten" the figs -- I made some preserves a couple of years ago with a different recipe and they were too bitter to eat. Today, these were just terrific! When I poured the hot water over the figs/baking soda - there was a chemical reaction of bubbling as if pouring vinegar over baking soda -- I didn't expect that either...
Food chemistry can be so much fun...making the preserves made the house smell so good and the sense of accomplishment made an otherwise kind of "down" day, end on a happy note. Out of 7 quarts of figs, I now have a bounty of beautiful preserves and the grape jelly has come from grapes from our vines and the figs from the trees in our yard. Such a meaningful thing to grow and preserve food like that...knowing that it's the rain, sun and God's love that has given us this beautiful fruit.
In life we have rainy days and sunny days ... and God's love is the fertilizer in our lives that causes our lives to produce beautiful "spiritual fruit" too. If our days were always perfect like a warm spring day - without rain or cold or wind or storms, the ground would never be saturated with water good enough to be fertile. My day today wasn't a happy day -- it was rainy and windy and stormy due to some "stuff" of life that is just going on here. And yet, I am comforted in knowing that I'm not alone and that this rain, wind and storms is saturating my heart with compassion, faith, prayer and support and out of that the Lord will produce good fruit - an opportunity to share this experience with someone else or the opportunity to pray and fertilize the ground of someone else's heart.
Today I posted on Facebook a request for prayer - no details - just prayer -- I was completely humbled by the number of people who committed to carry me before the Father today -- they sowed fertilizer into my life. They fed my dry and weary soul with encouragement and love by their sacrifice of time on my behalf. Never doubt that God was pleased by your care for one of His kids who was having a bad day. When I couldn't sleep two dear sisters were online unable to sleep as well -- they breathed reason and encouragement to me to stay the course and trust God. They fertilized my heart and soul, too. To share a phone call with another dear sister and hear about her day gave me hope and an opportunity to encourage her and pray for her family.
Friends, our Father is so faithful to provide for us exactly what we need. It may not be a fancy car or big bank account - it may come in the form of a prayer warrior, encourager or a hug...as the song says, "He loves us way too much to give us lesser things".
As we rise each morning, may we ask the Lord to help us look for ways that we can fill a need according to God's riches in glory. May we be a drink offering to be poured out each day so that we are empty and ready to be filled again only as God can fill us. May we be less focused on ourselves and the frustrations that come and more focused on our blessings and on blessing others in Jesus' Name.
One of my favorite verses is 1 Corinthians 15:58 - "Throw yourselves into the work of the Master, confident that nothing you do for His Kingdom is a waste of time or effort." -- it is a reminder that large or small, great or insignificant - it's all important in God's economy.
May the Lord bless you richly today and throughout the rest of the week...you are truly a blessing to me!
Until next week....Love ya! Amy
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