Summertime means pickling and canning season for a lot of gardeners. Harvests are preserved for wintertime feasting using many different methods. I'm not a big pickle eater although they appear appetizing in a jar. Sealing of the jar is probably the most important step of canning. If you've ever canned, you're familiar with the "pop" the lid makes when the jar is sealed. I remember canning with my mom as a kid. My favorite part was counting the sounds as I heard the comforting pops as the jars sealed. Sealing preserves pickles to be eaten later, months later. If the jar doesn't seal, the food isn't preserved for later and will spoil if not eaten quickly.
Are you beginning to notice Jesus in the details of your life? I'm not sure if it's a gift or simply from meditation and seeking that I find God everywhere, in everything. He inspires me! As I ate a pickle from a jar the other day, Ephesians 4:30 came to me, "And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption."
The similarities of faith and pickles are:
- Pickles start in a raw perishable state. We are born into a perishable state.
- Pickles need someone to perserve them. We need a Savior to preserve us.
- Pickles take time to obtain their unique flavor. We take time to obtain robust faith.
- Pickles are "ready"-to-eat. We are "ready"-to-go.
- Pickles must be thrown out if not properly sealed. We will hear "Depart" if not sealed by Jesus.
We are like pickles; a simple cucumber transformed by salt and sealing! Jesus is the only perservative that can keep our faith "in a pickle"!
Lovingly,
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