07 October 2013

squeezed

Yesterday we picked grapes again at my in-laws.  The clusters had remained on the vine through two nights of frost, leaving them unusually sweet.  Today seemed the perfect time to make more grape jelly.

I washed the bunches and stripped the ripe grapes from the stems, dropping them into the cooking pot.

The next step was to stir, mash and crush the fruit.  As I began the smashing process I was reminded of a line from a devotional in My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers:
If we are ever going to be made into wine, we will have to be crushed— you cannot drink grapes. Grapes become wine only when they have been squeezed.
sometimes everything in me
wants to scream
stop
no more pressure
God You will 
crush me beneath 
the weight of all this

then His voice an arrow
directly hits the mark

will you walk through
the pain
confess My hand 
at work here, now
as I squeeze, release

not just stirred, but shaken
I pause, breathe
and surrender again

Day 7 of 31 Days of Surrender








linking up at the pub where the poets meet

 

12 comments:

Madeleine Begun Kane said...

Nice extended metaphor

David Rupert said...

Stirred not shaken! James Bond Christianity! Love this lovely piece -- about the joy of being turned upside down and shaken inside out. It hurts, but it's worth it.

Denise said...

Really good post.

Denise said...

Really good post.

Laurie Kolp said...

I love Oswald Chambers, and your poem is a lovely reminder of how God works in our lives.

Brian Miller said...

ah the pressure we face surely squeezes some of the goodness out of us, but we oft dont see that in the moment...our grape harvest was nil this year....sad...

Mary said...

It seems God knows JUST how much pressure to apply. (I had read the Chambers book too at one point.)

Claudia said...

this is a deeply moving thought... the having to be squished to become wine.. i wish it would go without squishing..but i guess there's no real fruitfulness without a certain suffering..

Grace said...

Terrific use of the metaphor ~ We can be crushed by the weight of pain & challenges but like wine, we can be transformed ~

brudberg said...

Like how you used the wine metaphor for crushed... good to come out of it without whine... Smiles

Mystic_Mom said...

Surrender indeed! This is a perfect poem to express that. What a blessing.

Katie Mia Frederick said...

This truly resonates with me as I don't think I would have ever experienced this light without pain even severe pain that IS...