It was an ordinary life.....

They were a happy couple, living a quiet and simple life.....
One day he walked in from the garden with a ice cream pail filled with cucumbers.
So begins the horrifying tale of

PICKLE MANIA!!

It is that time of year that except for my regular work schedule everything else gets put on hold to allow me to freeze, pickle or preserve the bounty from our garden. The canner is almost always aboil, sterilizing empty jars or waiting to process jars filled with relish or jelly or salsa.

Rick comes home from work each evening and heads out to the garden to pick whatever is ripe. He comes back to the house with pails full, bursting with pride. I "oooh". I "ahhhh". I moan and groan about the work ahead of me.

So this past week it's been cucumbers. Cucumbers of all sizes, with many more still ripening on the vines. Rick also grows garlic, delicious flavorful garlic with cloves bigger than I've ever seen. The other night I peeled a very large head that consisted of only two cloves that need to be cut at least in half before they could be used. If you were to look at our garden, you would get the idea that we were ranching dill. It grows wherever it pleases and fills every empty nook and cranny. These factors of course lead only to one conclusion - garlic dill pickles. There will be whole pickles, pickle spears, slices and chunks. Some will have more dill than others and some jars will receive the extra kick of a sprinkle of hot pepper flakes. Tonight I will take the smallest ones and add sugar, turmeric and celery seeds to the mix to create sweet garlic dills.

And on and on and.............

When the cukes get too large they will get chopped, minced, ground and otherwise mutilated before being transformed into various types of relish, but for now, it's pickles. The magic of pickles.

Magic? Yes indeed. The cucumber goes into a brine solution as one type of vegetable and after spending time living in the brine, it comes out totally changed. That's what happens to us when we spend time soaking the presence of God. He transforms us. He takes away bitterness, blandness and adds flavour. He turns us into His own special creation, forever marked by His hand.

Take some time today to let Him pickle you. You will be changed, for His glory.