To Open a Pickle Jar
Aging includes ups and downs. Both good and bad things grow out of the aging process. One of the biggest downs is that no matter how hard you try you will lose muscle mass and strength. You will struggle to lift heavy boxes. You will get tired easier and sooner when you work in the yard. This is why older people move to condos and pay someone else to move their boxes for them.
Loss of strength is inevitable in the aging process.
In the face of that, a good life goal is to maintain enough strength to open a pickle jar. You know how frustrating that can be. Ugghhh. Struggle. Ugghhh. Darn pickle jar!
A helpful “life hack” for always being able to have victory over the pickle jar is to take a dishwashing glove, put it over the top of the jar and then twist. That does two things. First, it increases your grip, thereby maximizing the strength you do have. Second, it puts concentrated pressure on the jar which makes it more likely that the lid will give way and turn.
The Word of God works the same way. It is like adding a dishwashing glove to whatever situation you face. First, it increases your grip on the issue at hand. Second, the opposing side of the equation is far more likely to give way and turn.
In this New Year many voices speak not only to the importance of daily Bible reading but also to the good goal of reading through the entire Bible every year. In a world of bad news it is actually refreshing that you hear the emphasis on Bible reading from all sorts of corners.
Including this one.
Significant this week, as we make our way through January, is the great opportunity to adopt a plan to read through the Bible. Check out Isaiah 55:8-11 and see if that passage doesn’t make the analogy of the dishwashing glove and the pickle jar ring true.
One more thing, remember that the Bible, the Word of God and Jesus are one. “In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God and the word was God… and the word became flesh.” John 1:1-2, 14 To be in the Scriptures daily, working your way through their entirety, is to experience the real presence of Jesus and his grace, mercy, love, peace, power, and strength.
And doing so will lead to victories far greater than being able to open a pickle jar in your old age.
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Little jars and large jars are harder to open. So it is in life – the small issues are often seen as huge issues that cannot be addressed or solved and what appear to be huge issues are often much easier to be managed. Small is not insignificant and large is not impossible. Bring the issue to the middle and it often becomes easier to open.