Seasonal Reasoning: Cutting Off The Crust

Does this look like your life sometimes? Scrambled up and just a big ole obvious mess?

This is indicative of my life most days. Running here and there and everywhere. Never taking enough time to iron out the surface of life. So this is what I get right? Hurriedly I put one pie in the oven only to drop the second moments later. I caught it and only some crust was lost, while other parts of the crust mixed into the filling. Crust. Those are the parts we need to prune anyways right?

When I was a child and my grandmother would fix me a turkey sandwich while we waited on the big meal to get done. She would, without my prompting, cut off the crust or “parts” as I called them. I didn’t have to ask her. She knew that those unwanted parts didn’t hold the sandwich together and they certainly didn’t add to the flavor. So why is this such a fond memory for me? Every year on Thanksgiving

I cooked with her and in the midst of the business of the day she always took time to make sure I wasn’t hungry. Oh, I cooked with her though. I pulled my little stool up to that island and I stirred and mixed and talked with her. Her hand engulfing mine as she taught me something new. Easy, gently and smooth. No rush. No haste. Just precision and patience.

John 15:5

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”

So why can’t I have those same endearing qualities? I think back on those days as I will for the first time, do Thanksgiving much differently this year, and remember every single detail of the ritualistic day. I thankful for the opportunity to be a part of such a wonderful family, but it’s just different. No brothers here to aggravate me, no aunts, uncles and cousins to catch up with, no parents to hug me and no grandparents here to cut off the crust.

I heard Him so clearly and I heard these words as I bent over to catch the falling pie.

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”

God is my vine and I am but a branch. He continuously prunes me and cuts off my crust. Those unwanted parts that don’t bring glory to Him, well He knows which ones to snip. I am thankful that God uses me still. I am thankful that He reminds me still. He loves me still. He comforts me still. He’s still only picking out the parts that are bad, those that mixed into the good. Those are the parts I gained when I wandered. What a beautiful scripture to remind us of no matter how ugly or sad our heart can be sometimes, God is still working on us. Allow Him to work. He’s still faithfully and gracefully and mercifully cutting off your crust.

I’ve had a good cry and I’ve felt sorry for myself. I’ve looked at pictures of my daddy and those whom I lost. I’ve cried a little bit more because selfishly I don’t like change and I don’t like to break tradition. But in the last year God has shown me that breaking how we traditionally feel and how we traditionally don’t rely on God as much as we should and traditionally we just don’t listen until it’s almost too late and we’ve “dropped the whole pie” isn’t such a bad thing. He’s fervently pruning those areas. So though this isn’t the traditional “I’m thankful blog,” it’s simple. And I’m simply thankful for Him, what He has blessed me with and the fact that He will never cut off my entire branch.

Oh, and I’m serving the pie along with this scripture. I’m thankful for the pie and the reminder.