Thursday, October 28, 2010

Dear God,

I made applesauce all day. I took large, red, firm Ida Red apples and turned them into applesauce, canning and preserving them for glorious winter eating.

I learned to can at my grandmother's knee. On warm sunny summer days, I sat on the back step with Grandma breaking green beans. I watched as she blanched the beans, put them in hot, sterilized Ball jars, set them in a pressure cooker, pressured them for several minutes, took them out, let them cool and then set them on the shelves in the musty, old basement. The green beans added color to the red tomatoes, yellow peaches, white pears, purple beets, green lima beans and the multi-colored vegetable soup just to name a few. How wonderful it was during the first snowfall to open a jar of summer!

Today I served as a mentor to a young woman who wanted to learn how to preserve healthy food. I passed along what I knew from my grandmother, my mother and aunts.

I learned a great deal at Grandma's house. I learned how to use lard to make the best flaky pie crust. I learned how to pick wild raspberries, pull carrots and cut rubarb. I learned how to make quilts and water African violets.

But more than all that, I learned how faith is the secret ingredient to life. I watched her read the bible and Upper Room magazine, pray at meals and bedtime, give garden produce to needy persons, read to the blind, tithe to the church and to love with all you have. She is the one person I readily think of when I consider those persons who served as mentors in my life. You gave her to me and to a whole lot of others. I am grateful.

Loving God,
your gifts
are plentiful
just like
my over-flowing
bushel basket
of apples.
You placed
persons in
my life
to teach me.
Standing in the kitchen today
cooking, canning
and preserving
reminded me
of your goodness.
Thank you.

Love, Andrea
of your gifts