Beauty From Mud
This morning I came home from the allotment covered in mud. It was on my face and in my hair too. Not a pretty sight.
Sticky, dirty, brown mud is something most sane people avoid.
But growing among all that mud were these tasty strawberries. So many that today we’ve made jam, compote and jelly – and there are still some left.
Our current situation is feeling a bit like one of the muddy bogs mentioned often in the book of Job and the Psalms (e.g. Job 30:19 and Psalm 40:2). It is difficult to see a way out of Covid-19 and the economic consequences.
All this isolation can leave us dwelling on our past mistakes too, making us feel stained with dirt.
But just as He did with the glut of strawberries on our allotment, God specialises in bringing beautiful things out of dirt – fruits, flowers, trees – even humans.
God can make something beautiful out of us and the situation we’re in – if we trust in Him.
‘Then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground’ Genesis 2:7
‘to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes’ Isaiah 61:3
Homemade stickers
We came up with the idea of making strawberry jelly as a way of using up the left over gelatine sachet we had from making these stickers.
My kids are currently studying ancient Greece in our history curriculum; ‘The story of the world’. One of the craft ideas was to make Greek stickers. They are so simple and my kids have had great fun with them.
You will need;
1/2 sachet of gelatine or 2 leaves
4 tbsp hot water
Instructions:
1. Draw and colour in the pictures You would like to turn into stickers.
2. Stir the gelatine in the hot water until it is dissolved. (Young children will need an adult to do this step.)
3. Paint the gelatine mix on the back of the sticker.
4. Wait for it to dry completely (about 3 hours).
5. Cut out the sticker, lick and stick it where you want. We decorated a toy box and some of the kids school workbooks.