As we close our time focusing on Rest & Renewal, I thought I’d point out something that is often missed by modern people. We have become so used to buying strawberries in Winter that we no longer stop to think about how much of a miracle that is. For the first time in human history we have all the ingredients available at our finger tips for almost any meal all the time. However, if one goes back a little more than a century our current way of life would be impossible. The invention of Interstates, increased shipping speeds, and refrigeration have changed human diets and traditional ways of living forever.
However, in the past Winter would have been the only time we could eat the way we now do every day. It would have been the only time you had a “store” of one’s own making. Through Spring, Summer, and Fall things would be grown and put up for storage through various methods. Salting, drying, and later canning the produce one grew would be part of daily life through those three seasons. The arrival of permanent cold weather in Winter meant the arrival of natural refrigeration, a way to preserve meat. Large animals could then be processed and not lost in a matter of hours to spoilage. There is a reason hunting is a Winter sport. Fresh meat, particularly rich red meats would enter the diet in Winter alongside the other goods that had been stored up, and then, for a brief period, you rested and ate. That made Winter a special season for cooking. It is the reason why some of our favorite meals are prepared in the Fall and Winter. Rich meals suddenly leap, or should I say “spring” into our “Fall” menus. In the recent past, it was the only time of year when all of the ingredients could be gotten at the same time. The Winter brought storage and the other seasons of the brought the bounty. In Winter alone you had a refrigerator and a full pantry.
In Farmer Boy, Laura Ingall’s Wilder’s book about her husband Alonzo’s up brining in New York, he describes his Winter evenings together with his family as a very restful time. They ate apples and popped popcorn and then coated it with butter (three things that existed together only in Winter) while his family read the Bible, the Newspaper, or books aloud next to a warm crackling wood stove. At one point he describes all the food in his mother’s pantry. Read it for yourself. It is a great selection for a read-aloud book on those cold Winter nights with the family.
My advice this week as we close out our focus on “Rest and Renewal” is to look for an opportunity to stop and share a full meal as a family. Maybe make y’alls favorite dish and enjoy it. If you are daring you could even take dominion by subduing a new recipe. Involve your children and grandchildren if you can. Savor the goodness and richness of the Winter season while consciously giving thanks to God for His providence. Over the horizon is warmer weather, more time out of doors, sports, and eating our meals on the run. However, this season is a time of rest, food, and the enjoyment of all that our daily toil supplies . Receive it as it is, the gift of God.
Ecclesiastes 5:18-20
18 Behold, what I have seen to be good and fitting is to eat and drink and find enjoymenth] in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days of his life that God has given him, for this is his lot. 19 Everyone also to whom God has given wealth and possessions and power to enjoy them, and to accept his lot and rejoice in his toil—this is the gift of God. 20 For he will not much remember the days of his life because God keeps him occupied with joy in his heart.
Go in peace to love, serve, rest, and enjoy the gifts of God!
Pastor Jeremy
– Remember –
Make that Intercessory Prayer List!
Monday is “grab our Prayer Book and make/update our Intercessory Prayer List” day. I get to move one of mine to the praise part of my day this week because the Lord answered a specific request. I don’t always praise the Lord for as long as I requested something from the Father, but I do always leave it on the praise side for at least a week.
Wednesday House-to-House
@ the Gingerichs @ 6:15 PM. Pizza, Scripture Lesson, Intercession
Memorize and Meditate on Psalm 1:6
for the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.
Keep working on Psalm 1 by completing it, adding Psalm 1:6 as the cherry on top. Keep hiding His Word in your hearts!
Discover more from Solomon's Porch Christian Community
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.