If it’s happened once over the last 43 years of our marriage…it’s happened 100 times. Every time I think it will be different, but it rarely is. What is it? Limp celery. Now I know with the election tomorrow and people starving in many parts of our world, limp celery doesn’t take much precedence…but in the day-to-day world I live in, it drives me nuts.
Every time I buy celery, I think it will be different and I will make sure and use it all up before it goes limp, but I often don’t. So, I then have to make up a bowl of ice water, cut the remaining celery into pieces, and let it soak so it can be saved.
But when faced with this heart-breaking dilemma a couple months ago …I did something wild and crazy which I had never done before. I decided to cut the celery into small pieces and freeze it in small bags. My brilliant reasoning was that someday I would be making soup and need celery and wa-la… tucked away in the freezer I would already have it ready to go. Of course in the back of my mind, I figured that if I was honest, I would probably forget it was there and find it 5 years from now and not even recognize what it was
Fast forward to a month later and Dan and I decided to make and can a batch of BBQ sauce. I checked to make sure I had all the ingredients, and I had everything listed except…you guessed it…celery. Now for many people that wouldn’t be a big deal, you would just run to the grocery store and buy celery…but we happen to live in the boonies and we are 12 miles from a store…so making an impromptu trip to town isn’t something we usually do.
And then I had that “lightbulb” moment, and I told Dan about freezing celery a month before, but I couldn’t remember how much there was. I went and checked and there were three cups and I only needed 1.5 cups so we were set and ready to go with our BBQ sauce plan.
Now, you would think that I would immediately put on my grocery list to get celery the next time I entered a grocery store, but I didn’t. So, when I needed to make a big pot of chili a couple weeks later, I once again had all the ingredients except for celery. I wanted to make a triple batch so when I did the math to figure out how much celery I needed…yep, once again you guessed it…I needed 1.5 cups. That, of course, was the exact amount I still had tucked away in my freezer.
At this point, you are probably wondering why in the world I am sharing all of this with you. I’m sure it has been riveting for you so far…but you may not have a clue where I am going with all of this. Well, let me tell you. Do I think it was just a coincidence that weeks before we wanted to make BBQ sauce, I did something that I had never done in 43 years of marriage (freezing the celery)? No…I don’t think so.
Also, do I think it was a coincidence that I had frozen the exact amount I would need to make not just the BBQ sauce, but also the chili? Nope, I don’t think so. I happen to believe that all of this was a God-wink just for me. I truly believe that this entire process was God-directed to show me that He sees me. He loves me. He cares about every aspect of my life…even if it just involves plain old celery!
I believe that there is someone today who has actually read to this point and needs to be reminded that God cares about them this much too. If that person is you…I want you to know that He sees you. He loves you. He cares about every aspect of your life…even if it just involves plain old celery!
So, whatever you are facing today…give it all to Him. Let Him lead you and direct you, because His plan is far better than you can even imagine. Who knows…maybe He will lead you to do something that you’ve never done in 43 years…just to let you know how crazy He is about YOU!
