Romans 8:28 “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”

SWEETNESS

I grew up eating mayhaw jelly. Now you may ask, “What is a mayhaw?” Well, “mayhaw” is the term used for Hawthorne berries which produce in May of each year in the swamps of South Georgia. They are very tart and not very pleasant to eat by themselves. But after you cook them and squeeze off the juice, you can make some of the tastiest jelly I know of. My dad LOVED mayhaw jelly.

That reminds me of this verse. Circumstances may seem to be tart and worthless, but after it goes through God’s pressure cooker and press, something sweet can be made of it. But come on now, who wants to go through a pressure cooker and then get squeezed. No one! Nobody likes that, but we can learn so much from these situations.

TEACHING MOMENT

As your children grow and mature, they are going to face “pressure cooker” situations. It will seem that they cannot possibly survive. Your little girl gets her heart broken by some boy. Your son gets cut from the basketball team. Your child fails a huge math test. All of these seem hard while going through them. But in every situation they can learn to be more like Christ.

The hard part for us as parents is to keep our cool. Dads, you want to find that boy who has crushed your little girl and take him out. Moms, you want to “have a talk” with that coach who just cut your son. Wait! Don’t react! Watch God work. He will take that “tart” situation, let it cook a while and then squeeze something out that can be enjoyed. Not because the situation is enjoyable, but the outcome is. We learn, our kids learn and God is glorified. Hallelujah!