A daily, Bible-based perspective of hope,
encouragement and exhortation.
Daily
Encouragement on
Tuesday, March 26,
2019
The namesake
farmhouse is across the street from the Stone House Farm
Sugar House.
"Considering
The Blessing Of Maple Syrup"
Message
summary: Today let us
be thankful for "every
good and perfect gift"
(James 1:17) including
naturally sweet maple
syrup!
Listen to our
message on your audio
player.
"I have
given every green
plant for food"
(Genesis 1:29).
This last
weekend in upstate New
York I visited two sugar
houses to watch maple
syrup being processed.
Saturday morning I joined our
friends and two other
families and we all went to
the Stone House Farm
where they served a
hearty breakfast of all
you care to eat
pancakes, waffles and of
course REAL maple syrup!
Later that afternoon I
visited the Mud Road
Sugar House. In both
locations you could
observe the syrup-making
process.
The sap is
collected from the maple
trees and in various
ways brought into the
sugar house, whether in
buckets and bags or by
tubing. Essentially the
sap is boiled down to
produce the syrup. It
takes some 40 gallons of
sap to make 1 gallon of
syrup.
At creation
the Lord said, "I
have given every green
plant for food".
It's unlikely the people
of the Bible times had
maple syrup and there's
certainly no mention of
it in Scripture. In the
Bible they knew what
sweetness was by the
taste of honey. The
Syrup Master (the man
who oversaw the sap to
syrup process) explained
some similarities
between maple sap/syrup
and honey.
The conditions
necessary for harvesting
the sap for maple syrup
require a colder region
with nights below
freezing and the warming
days of spring which
gets the sap flowing.
The native Americans
first discovered this
delectable treat and
taught it to the
European settlers.
Now REAL maple
syrup is one of the
great blessings of life
and is ultimately a
demonstration from
creation when we read
that God gave us "every
green plant for food".
The Syrup Master
explained that the
quality of the sap, and
thus syrup, is dependent
upon the weather
conditions the previous
summer with lots of
sunshine contributing to
the sugar content in the
sap. The verdant green
maple leaves of summer,
the beautiful colors of
autumn and then the
springtime sap harvest,
all are related. The
distinctions of each
season are blessings
from God and have an
overall purpose in the
way we carry on our
lives.
Considering
the blessing of maple
syrup brought to mind a
pleasant memory of
gathering with friends
in northern Pennsylvania
some 40 years ago and
the children singing
quite exuberantly the
Johnny Appleseed song,
"Oh, The Lord Is Good To
Me".
Oh, the Lord
is good to me,
And so I thank the Lord
For giving me the things I need
The sun, and the rain, and the apple seed.
The Lord's been good to me. Amen.
And so I thank the Lord
For giving me the things I need
The sun, and the rain, and the apple seed.
The Lord's been good to me. Amen.
Today let us
be thankful for "every
good and perfect gift"
(James 1:17) including
maple syrup!
Be
encouraged today,
Stephen & Brooksyne Weber
Daily
prayer:
Father, Your
statutes are
trustworthy,
Your precepts
give joy to my
heart. Your
commands are
radiant,
giving light
to my eyes. My
reverence for
You Lord is
pure, may it
endure
forever. Your
decrees are
firm, Your
statutes are
trustworthy,
and all of
them are
righteous.
More to be
desired are
they than
gold, yes,
than much find
gold, sweeter
also than
honey and the
honeycomb. May
the words of
my mouth and
the meditation
of my heart be
pleasing in
Your sight, O
Lord, my Rock
and my
Redeemer.
Amen.
Stephen & Brooksyne Weber
Daily
prayer:
Father, Your
statutes are
trustworthy,
Your precepts
give joy to my
heart. Your
commands are
radiant,
giving light
to my eyes. My
reverence for
You Lord is
pure, may it
endure
forever. Your
decrees are
firm, Your
statutes are
trustworthy,
and all of
them are
righteous.
More to be
desired are
they than
gold, yes,
than much find
gold, sweeter
also than
honey and the
honeycomb. May
the words of
my mouth and
the meditation
of my heart be
pleasing in
Your sight, O
Lord, my Rock
and my
Redeemer.
Amen.Adapted
from Psalm 19
The
Stone House
farm sugar
house where we
had breakfast.
Stone
House Farm
Syrup Master
It
takes a lot of
wood to keep
the fire hot.
There
was plenty of
syrup for
sale!
The
Mud Road Sugar
House
The
Syrup Master
at the Mud
Road Sugar
House was very
good at
explaining the
syrup-making
process.
These
old galvanized
buckets on a
maple tree out
in front of
the Mud Road
Sugar House
demonstrate
the old method
of collecting
the sap. In
the larger
operations
most of the
sap is
transported to
the sugar
house directly
from the tree
in tubing.
Today's
Suggested
Music and Supplemental Resources
"It
Was Love" Video
(audio only) Before
heading back home to
Pennsylvania on Sunday afternoon
three families joined together
in the farmhouse for several
hymns. It was a blessing to see
and hear them all singing out
together, including the
children.
"The
Lord Is Good To Me"
Video
Children
"Be
Enthroned" Video
Calvary Church Choir and
Orchestra (Brooksyne's
note: This has been our
theme song for a sermon series
and continues to be a favorite.
This was the first with an organ
accompaniment, so if you enjoy
hearing an organ, this is for
you!)
How
Maple Syrup is Made
Video
Small
Scale Maple Syrup Process in
Pennsylvania Video
Maple syrup
(article in Wikipedia)
Send a message to Stephen & Brooksyne
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