The Sacred Rhythms of Jelly Making

By Carol Woolum Roberts

This summer I am trying a new form of creativity…making jelly.

In the past, I have usually made jam.  But I came across some information about making jelly from flowers and herbs, so I thought it would be fun to try.  I have an abundance of floral supplies in my gardens, so why not?

So far, I have made Dandelion Jelly and Lilac Jelly.  I also made Rhubarb/Vanilla Bean jelly.

To prepare the dandelion flowers to become jelly, you need to pull out the center yellow petals from the middle of the flower and not have any of the green leaves or stem part with it, because that part is bitter.

To prepare the lilacs, you need to cut each individual cluster of lilac blooms from the branches to make the jelly.

Once the flower part is ready, you put them in a glass jar and pour hot boiling water over it and let it “steep” for about 24 hours.  Then your “floral tea” is ready.

I am loving the process of preparing the flowers to make the tea.  Because you can’t cut corners. You can’t go fast.  It is rather precise, methodical work to get the job done.

As I was working on the flowers, a phrase from one of my favorite Bible verses from The Message Bible kept coming to mind…”the unforced rhythms of grace”.

The whole verse goes like this:

“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”

That is how I want my relationship to be with Jesus.  Restful. Walking along.  Free and light.  No heavy burdens, which are usually brought on by myself.  If we just walk a step at a time, nice and easy, a petal at a time…a cluster of blossoms at a time.  Making progress….moving forward…with the unforced rhythms of grace.

And the end result is oh so sweet.

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Do you have an example from your life that you would consider one of the “unforced rhythms of grace”?

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