Lessons From Long Ago
While writing a post about canning for another blog, my mind was taken to kitchens of long ago. Those dear, homey places where family gathered and more than bodies were fed. Off on a romantic meandering the roads of my mind took me. Then, BAM! REALITY CHECK! Were those kitchens of long ago REALLY that wonderful? Were grandmothers of grandmothers of grandmothers always sweet, kind, and gentle? OR were they women just like me? Women who loved, lived, and laughed yet also cried, hurt, and spat. Did their children rise and call them blessed every day or some days did they fight and fuss and throw the cat on each other just like mine? How could those women have passed on so many helpful hints and advice if they hadn't first lived a life where such information was put to use?
As I sit here and ponder I'm brought to my favorite spot to be, on The Father's knee. Here I sit asking Him all that is in my heart to know, and here He holds me, strokes my hair, as the answers inside me begin to grow. He allows me to remember, to consider, to recall the truths that He has taught me since I was very small. Those dear, loving grandmothers who stirred their pots and canned, were women just as I am. They could not have loved others without first loving their Heavenly Father. As it was then, so it is now. Some mothers smile and some mothers growl. Then there are others, those a lot like me, who both growl and smile as they care for their family. They were learning, and so am I of the Father's loving care. How He gently leads and guides us on through storms and sunshine fair. (Isaiah 40:11) If to my eyes they seem so great there's only one thing it could be. When I'm looking at those sweet, dear Grandmas, it's the Father's love I see.
For some canning is an art. To others it is a science. For me, it's an extension of God's heart as I learn of His love and apply it. No matter what each day may hold as I walk out the destiny He made for me, if I remain in Him, He abides in me.(John 15:4) My needs, He will supply them.(Philippians 4:19) Someday, should the Lord tary, when other young women look back in time and see me in the kitchen, I can only pray instead of me they see the Father and know as He loved me, He'll still love them. (Malachi 3:6, Hebrews 13:8) Their needs He will supply. (Philippians 4:19) As long as they trust in Jesus, they'll have love to share, love to give to others all around. When Jesus is home there's no cause for alarm, no reason for a frown. So, were those grandmothers perfect? Were their kitchens really so dear? If Jesus was there and shone His love through, then yes, their memories are sweet. The rest? Well, sometimes, the imagination likes to go down it's own little street :)
John 15:4-12
Dwell in Me, and I will dwell in you. [Live in Me, and I will live in you.] Just as no branch can bear fruit of itself without abiding in (being vitally united to) the vine, neither can you bear fruit unless you abide in Me.
I am the Vine; you are the branches. Whoever lives in Me and I in him bears much (abundant) fruit. However, apart from Me [cut off from vital union with Me] you can do nothing. If a person does not dwell in Me, he is thrown out like a [broken-off] branch, and withers; such branches are gathered up and thrown into the fire, and they are burned. If you live in Me [abide vitally united to Me] and My words remain in you and continue to live in your hearts, ask whatever you will, and it shall be done for you. When you bear (produce) much fruit, My Father is honored and glorified, and you show and prove yourselves to be true followers of Mine. I have loved you, [just] as the Father has loved Me; abide in My love [continue in His love with Me]. If you keep My commandments [if you continue to obey My instructions], you will abide in My love and live on in it, just as I have obeyed My Father's commandments and live on in His love. I have told you these things, that My joy and delight may be in you, and that your joy and gladness may be of full measure and complete and overflowing. This is My commandment: that you love one another [just] as I have loved you.