Teresa came over this morning working with Carla to can up the green tomato relish.  It takes time.  Lots of time.  First the relish must be rinsed so the salt is removed.  Then it must be combined with vinegar and spices in stock pot to be cooked.  Then it must be placed in the sterilized jars prepped ahead of time and then into the boiling water bath to be canned.

Still have a few tomatoes in the cages – where the deer cannot get to them – ripening up.  We will pick some and let them ripen up in the basement, the rest I will probably can and we can process them into other tomato products as needed.  Peppers are looking good and we will be freezing some to add to soups, etc. this winter. 

Sky is greyer today, we should be getting some rain over the next few days.  That ‘may’ affect the tomatoes and make them split, if that happens they will not be usable, we will just have to wait and see.  

Psalm 139:23-24 Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts:

²⁴ And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

One of the by-products of canning is, unfortunately, fruit flies.  They seem to materialize out of thin air and attack the fruit.  They seem to be the most attracted to peaches and pears although they love any ripening fruit or vegetable if left out where they can get to them. 

They multiply rapidly – the smell and (I am convinced) their ‘network’ brings them in.  They crawl through the smallest opening – window screens that keep regular flies out don’t the fruit fly.  They go from an egg to a full-fledged adult menace within 8 days, so if the fruit is left unattended it provides a breeding ground for them – although they will breed elsewhere also.

When they are around they swarm all over people going for the face and mouth, ears and nose.  They dart in and then take off as you try to brush them aside, and then dive right back at you.  While not as bad as mosquitoes, they are still not pleasant.  They are extremely annoying little creatures whose sole existence appears to be to aggravate us.

We have learned to keep the fresh vegetables and fruit outside and bring in only enough to process or refrigerate at a time.  As soon as we process them the skins, peelings, seeds and any other wastes are taken immediately to the compost to get them out of the house.  But even taking those precautions we get some of them inside the house.

The riper the fruit the more appealing to them, and they are relentless in their pursuit of it.  As regular flies swarm around rotting meat, these little characters swarm around fruit and if it is rotten they will cover it and come off in a thick cloud when disturbed.

We place small containers containing apple cider vinegar and liquid soap around the kitchen.  They are attracted to the smell of the vinegar and the soap keeps them from flying off.  They work, during canning season I have to empty, clean and recharge those containers, often.  Still and yet, they linger.

I am not sure where they hide, but opening a jar of peaches and eating them will bring them out, even if fresh fruit hasn’t been out for weeks.  They seem to lie in wait for us, always ready to make our life miserable.

When they are not swarming around the fruit – or people – they go for the windows where the light attracts them and they try to get out.  I learned that using a vacuum helps when combating them, fly swatters don’t work.  So I search every nook and cranny – not only around the windows and curtains – but anywhere they try to hide with my ‘magic’ wand and suck in as many as possible.

How much those little flies are like sin in our lives.  It lies off awaiting our actions that will attract them. 

If we do not avoid things we know tempt us, but instead entertain it, we attract temptation.  It is relentless, it will bombard us with attack after attack and if we do not get rid of the things that are tempting to us, we can end up being overcome and yield to them.

Just as the flies hide and seem to be gone, we have little memories and temptations hidden away in the recesses of our minds.  They remain there until given the opportunity to come out and annoy us.  If we do not get rid of them immediately they start swarming around us until they get what they want.

While the fruit flies are attracted to light so they are easier to find and destroy – those memories and little temptations are not so easily found in our heart and mind.  We may ‘think’ we have overcome and indeed Jesus has wiped the sin from our life and soul, but those tempting thoughts still exist and can be devastating if we don’t deal with them.

Sometimes we don’t even realize they are there or they are triggers to us for sinful behavior.  A lot of who we are and where those memories come from is how we were raised.  What we were taught and it may take some time to understand those things were contrary to God’s Word.

Mathew 18:3-4  And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.

⁴ Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

It is interesting to note that Jesus doesn’t say unless you become as little children you can’t be saved.  Jesus recognizes that we must first believe in Him.  We don’t have to cast aside all these sins and become good to come to Him, all we have to do is believe in His redemptive authority through His death on the cross.

But it isn’t just believing in Him, as we are told even satan believes and trembles, it is the acceptance of Him as a child accepts and doesn’t question, so must we accept Him and His saving works without question.

Once we have been ‘converted’ He expects us to set aside our sinful behavior.  He expects us to be a clean slate, as a small child is a clean slate, to be written on by HIS hand, to understand our salvation and to serve Him.

There are some things we understand are wrong immediately and we start dealing with those past indiscretions.  It could be anything that is obvious, cursing, lusting, stealing, lying, taking God’s name in vain – anything that separates us from living a holy life.

These are the easy things to confront – maybe not easy to deal with, but they are the things that we can deal with more readily.  Even still we may find them, at times, striking out to lure us back into sin, those are the things that were appealing to us when we were without Christ, hidden little flies that wait until they see the fruit and then dare us to go after it.

But there are also biases, fears, lust for something that lie deep in our sub-conscience that we may not even know are there, but infect our ability to live a holy life.  These lie hidden where we cannot see and therefore we cannot deal with them until they come out – and then it can be incredibly hurtful and devastating to us.

Fortunately, God can.  God sees into those crevices and when we truly allow Him to search them out, helping us see those wicked ways that are within us, He can help vacuum them out and make us free.  His light will bring them out of the darkness so they can be dealt with.

That can be a painful experience.  As we study God’s Word, as we prostrate ourselves before Him and ask Him to search our heart, to rid us of anything that stands between us and Him, we will learn things that may not be pleasant.  We may learn that we must set aside our biases, we might learn that some of the things we thought were right are not, and that we must change our behavior to reflect the insights He is giving us.

We are very fortunate, God is patient.  He looks at our hearts and can tell that our desire is to serve Him to the best of our abilities.  He is also a forgiving God and for some of us both of those attributes are extremely important.  While some people can more readily accept what Christ said and readily open up their life as a young child opens theirs the rest of us have to overcome many things that hinder our walk with God.

God is willing to lead us, we must be willing to be led.

Later, Art :-)

From the ColumbiaRiverGorgeous
May Our Good Lord Bless and Keep YOU....’til we meet again