Well...here it is. "What?" "Here is what?" you ask. Well right there on the plate smothered in butter, salt, and pepper. You cannot see the bounty on this plate?
"See what? THE FORK IS BIGGER THAN THE BOUNTY!"
You are right. You see what you are looking at is my potato harvest. Yup. This is my potato harvest. One potato. What happened? Well I call it a lesson in country patience. You see I simply was not patient to wait for the tubers to send out more tubers thereby causing more potatoes to form. Thus I ended up with one measly potato not enough to feed a mouse.
"See what? THE FORK IS BIGGER THAN THE BOUNTY!"
You are right. You see what you are looking at is my potato harvest. Yup. This is my potato harvest. One potato. What happened? Well I call it a lesson in country patience. You see I simply was not patient to wait for the tubers to send out more tubers thereby causing more potatoes to form. Thus I ended up with one measly potato not enough to feed a mouse.
So now you ask..."What in the world is this a picture of?" "Well that is pretty simple", I say, "Anyone can see that is a photo of homemade yogurt!" Really, the bottom line is that this is also a photo of a lesson in country patience. You see I followed the recipe to a tee. I slowly boiled the milk as the directions stated. Only I was not patient as I waited for the temperature to reach that optimum 180* needed to kill off the bad bacteria. So I did what most of us do when we are not patient, I turned up the heat to high. As any cook knows turning the heat up on the milk will scald it. Now I have an entire crock-pot full of a gallon of scalded yogurt. Oh sure I can put honey with it and try and sweeten it, but the taste of scalded and burnt milk is inevitably there as a bawdy aftertaste.
Every day I am in the kitchen working on home made something or another. Every day I find a lesson in country patience. I just call it country patience, but really any one of us can learn these lessons no matter where we are.
In the case of my potato harvest my fork was bigger than my bounty. Lesson learned. My God is bigger than anything I can grow, do, say, or be. I needed to have patience with my potato crop, and I find a lesson in remembering that He is in control of what happens. If I decide to become impatient and try to fix it myself, or make it go the way I want rather than the way He has planned for me, it will not provide a yield that is pleasing to me.
"James 5:7-8
Be patient, then, brothers, until the Lord's coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop and how patient he is for the autumn and spring rains. You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord's coming is near. (NIV)
In the case of my potato harvest my fork was bigger than my bounty. Lesson learned. My God is bigger than anything I can grow, do, say, or be. I needed to have patience with my potato crop, and I find a lesson in remembering that He is in control of what happens. If I decide to become impatient and try to fix it myself, or make it go the way I want rather than the way He has planned for me, it will not provide a yield that is pleasing to me.
"James 5:7-8
Be patient, then, brothers, until the Lord's coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop and how patient he is for the autumn and spring rains. You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord's coming is near. (NIV)
In the case of my (appearing to taste delicious) yogurt there is yet another lesson. Actually a two fold one for me. First of all is the actual boiling point. 180* is the point just before the boiling point. I was almost there with that milk. My decision to turn the heat to high at 160* to MAKE it heat up faster is kind of like making life choices isn't it? I have made some very poor life choices in my time. Some folks wondered what I was up to at each turn! So did I. You see my lesson has been that if I had only trusted God during those times of decision rather than my own human desires I would have been better off. But NOPE. I chose to turn up the heat on my life choices when there were so many blessings in store for me had I turned to what He wanted for my life. Now years later I sit back and watch my poor life choices play out daily in the lives of my children, family, and friends. My second lesson in making yogurt from scratch is this: the choices we make in life cannot be declared as personal. Choices we make affect those all around us. It is not "my life I shall do as I please". So many times it tarnishes so much more. Just like the taste of the scorched milk tarnished my organic home made yogurt. From its appearance it looks tasty, but once consumed the eater frowns in disgust.
Proverbs 19:21 Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand"
Proverbs 19:21 Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand"
Slowly Autumn has faded. We are left with the browns and grays just waiting, holding its breath for the first snowfall. This too has become a lesson in country patience. As each season passes and I grow older I see there is always room for forgiveness. There is always room for change. There is always room for the "Spring" of redemption. Today when you walk through your day see what lessons unfold themselves to you. They are many and often if one just opens their eyes to them. Nothing happens by chance.
Take time to learn some lessons today.
Take time to learn some lessons today.
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