Canning season is here!
I think each one of my children can tell you something about gardening. At our house gardening was almost a sport, and each person of the house hold had to do their part in the care and nurturing of the garden. Once the ground was tilled we would all get rakes and smooth out the ground in preparation for seeding. We would start with strings and stakes, and mark a row. Then we would make a furrow, and place each seed at the recommended distance from one another. We would push dirt over the seed and gently pat the dirt in place, then water and wait. We put a stake through the empty seed packet so we knew what was planted in that row. We found that writing on a stake with a magic marker would stand up to the weather better, keeping the inventory of our garden more accurate. After planting, each child would be assigned a row to weed around the plants, and hoe between the rows. If each child and adult did their assigned jobs properly from planting, watering, weeding, and hoeing, the garden flourished and harvest would be plentiful. If the assigned jobs were not done, soon weeds would overtake the plants and would choke the good plants out, leaving only weeds and briars behind. The results of this action, (or should I say inaction,) would be a jungle of weeds, and our harvest would be nil.
Since my children are all grown and have families of their own, I no longer plant a large garden or do much canning. Each of them have their own gardens and can all types of vegetables and fruits for their family. To can successfully you must prepare the crop item properly, and you must put them in clean sterile jars to ensure proper sealing and preservation. It only takes the tiniest bit of uncleanliness to make the product spoil and the lid to become unsealed. When this happens the canned produce is ruined and must be thrown away.
The Bible talks about putting new wine in new wineskins or jars. If you would put the new wine in old jars they would break, the wine would be ruined and deemed undrinkable. The same can be said about a Christian; Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. II Corinthians 5:17. You can’t put your old life, or old thoughts, or old habits, into a new Christian mind, body, and soul. It is important that you maintain cleanliness to ensure preservation. You have heard of people turning over a new leaf, like an alcoholic for example, he could not frequent bars if he wanted to maintain his sobriety. In order to keep our Christianity like new, we must keep all things evil away from it.
As parents we must be proactive when it comes to what our children are watching on their screens, on the Internet, and on TV. Before you let your child play a video game, you should go through the whole game and approve it as a wholesome form of entertainment. The same can be said of books and periodicals, make sure you know what your child is putting in their mind, because the tiniest bit of uncleanliness can spoil the most beautiful fruit.
We as authors love to put adversity in front of our heroines and heroes. We feel the struggle makes them stronger and wiser. We make them strive to come out on the other side of a problem wiser and better. Let us hope that we apply this thinking to our own lives and always strive to make ourselves wiser and better so we can mentor others in improving their lives also, through the knowledge of Jesus Christ.
Neither do men put new wine into old bottles: else the bottles break, and the wine runneth out, and the bottles perish: but they put new wine into new bottles, and both are preserved.
Matthew 9:17, Luke 5:37, Mark 2:22
Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise:
Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler,
Provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest.
Proverbs 6:6-9
There is nothing from without a man, that entering into him can defile him: but the things which come out of him, those are they that defile the man.
Mark 7:15-17
If thou hast done foolishly in lifting up thyself, or if thou hast thought evil, lay thine hand upon thy mouth.
Surely the churning of milk bringeth forth butter, and the wringing of the nose bringeth forth blood: so the forcing of wrath bringeth forth strife.
Proverbs 30:32-33