Jelly

             The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. (II Peter 3:9)

 

            Let’s begin by noting that while God doesn’t want anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance, coming to repentance isn’t the end. He has further plans for those who come to repentance. It is reasonable to assume that if he is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowlness, but is patient as he continues past repentance toward sanctification and conformity to the image of Christ. In fact, “coming to repentance” isn’t even a one-time-thing. Equally, “perishing” may not always refer to eternal death, or death. As we’ve considered recently, perishing may involve the process of losing out on life or losing our soul even if we’ve gained the whole world.

            With that established, let’s get cooking.

4 c dandelion flowers (green parts remove)

8 c water

2 tbsp lemon juice

1 pkg pectin

5.5 c sugar

            Put the dandelion petals in the water and bring them to a boil for 3 minutes. Cool. Strain out the flowers, squeezing them to extract as much liquid as possible. Measure 3 c of dandelion liquid and put in a large stainless-steel pan. Add lemon juice and pectin. Bring to a boil, stirring all the time. Add sugar. Continue stirring. Bring back to a rolling boil and boil for 2.5 minutes…

            What would happen if you left one of the ingredients out? Or two? Or suppose you only steeped them for 30 seconds, or took the pan off the stove as soon as you got the sugar dissolved into the water, without that last 2.5 minute boil? Whatever you got, it would not be dandelion jelly. There are things you can change about the recipe. You can remove the pan from the heat when the flowers and water start to boil right at the beginning and let them steep overnight. You can replace one cup of sugar with a cup of honey. But other things are necessary for the recipe to turn out the way you want it to. If you don’t cook things a certain way, they don’t turn out the way you want.

            God faces the same situation. He knows what he wants the outcome to be. He knows how to go about it, and if he isn’t doing something the way we want, it’s probably because if he did, we (or someone else, or the situation) wouldn’t come out as “jelly.” It might be reparable, useful, or ruined, but it wouldn’t be the desired outcome. He's good at being patient because he's made a few batches of "jelly" that we call lives. We need to trust his patience and his recipe.