Two things stand out to my heart as pillars from last week. Indeed, there were more, but these two things in particular are sort of tied together, yet uniquely different.
The first is a woman, in the range of seventy plus, who cannot have a variety of food ingredients, including vinegar. Searching for an organic, avocado based mayonnaise. At the end of the conversation, I gave her a recipe to make it herself without vinegar, using lemon juice instead.The second, a woman in the range of twenty something, who began sharing that during cvid, she started learning how to cook from scratch. At home. This led to her desire to combat some of her health issues naturally, and that gave way to reading ingredients and the preparing of a proper pantry, and home canning. Twenty minutes into the conversation came her confession of having so much to learn and feeling overwhelmed.
The heart of her husband safely trusts in her;
So he will have no lack of grain.
- Proverbs 31:11
The first lady came back to report that she had made her mayonnaise, and it worked. Her smile was as big as the door she held. "It was good!" she added. With her finger pointed upward - "thank you. Thank you so much."
The second walked out the door with more local and online resources than she knew how to organize right then. She also had an open invitation to come back, anytime, for help. On both occasions my heart was swelling with joy. Why? Because I had the ability to help someone. Either by making mayonnaise or by encouraging a young wife to keep going. Keep searching. Keeping learning. Taking one thing at a time.
Her passion for pantry organization and learning to home can caused me tears of gratitude... it made me feel useful. Hopeful. Maybe even needed enough to pour into someone. It did my heart good. It did my heart good to see two separate generations searching for better. Desiring less of the system and less of the insecurities that we are fed. Both being willing to step out of the normalcy of convenience to possibilities endless.
It was so much more than mayonnaise. Much more than pantry organization. This was community investment. This was filling another's cup while pouring myself out.
