Gardens along the way...28...preservation...

 Gardens along the way...28...preservation....

Canning, freezing, dehydrating, freeze drying, salting down, pickling, smoking,  jamming, jellying, juicing, jerking, bagging, winnowing and threshing, boxing.....preservation...putting aside...planning ahead...getting ready for winter....

Right now there seems to be a shortage of canning jars, lids...people are planning ahead for the months ahead in droves...we have come through a hard year and when able, we are trying to preserve what they can...we don’t want to be left short handed again...

I think of the Israelites crossing the desert to the promised land...daily food, no preserving except for the Sabbath day...

And later still, in the Proverbs, we are to look to the ant who gathers for future use...or the sluggard who is not wise and has nothing ...

He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years. Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the Lord your God disciplines you. Observe the commands of the Lord your God, walking in obedience to him and revering him. For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land —a land with brooks, streams, and deep springs gushing out into the valleys and hills; a land with wheat and barley, vines and fig trees, pomegranates, olive oil and honey; a land where bread will not be scarce and you will lack nothing; a land where the rocks are iron and you can dig copper out of the hills. When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you.

Deuteronomy 8:3-10 

Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise! It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest.

Proverbs 6:6

We can do all the preserving, planning ahead for our temporal bodies while here on earth...but the most important “planning ahead” is what are we doing  with the eternal...how are we asking the question...”What must I do to be saved?”...the single most important “preservation” question we need to ask and answer...where are we putting our trust for the future....

He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved —you and your household.” Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his household were baptized. The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole household.

Acts 16:30-34 

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

John 3:16-17 

Thank YOU that you have given us bounty here for our earthly needs, but thank YOU so much more that you have prepared a way for us to have eternal life as well...through Your Son, Jesus...

(Totally aside, 😊

My newest fun recipe for drying is salt and vinegar zucchini chips with “everything salt free bagel seasoning”, hummm good)