Autumn Soup------------Committing to Heart

The Food Stuffs:

Prep:

This soup is thick and hearty, perfect for the chilly weather! Plan to work on this soup for about an hour before enjoying it. My measurements are loose, so tweak according to your taste. 

Ingredients:

-2 Cans Chicken Stock
-3 Medium Potatoes, peeled and chopped
-3 Cups Pumpkin, cooked and mashed
-1/2 Cup Applesauce
-1 Squash, chopped
-1/2 Cup Carrots, chopped
-1/4 Cup Corn kernels
-1/8 Cup Sugar
-Fresh Spinach leaves
-Cinnamon
-Allspice
-Nutmeg
-Italian Seasoning
-Salt
-Pepper
-Chili Powder
-Garlic

Cooking Instructions:

1. Warm chicken stock on stovetop on high.
2. When it begins to boil, add chopped potatoes.
3. Once the potatoes are cooked almost through, stir in pumpkin and applesauce. Reduce to medium heat.
3. Continue stirring over heat until well mixed. Add squash and carrots. 
4. After about ten minutes, stir in both corn and sugar.
5. Once the sugar is dissolved and the soup is an even texture, tear the fresh spinach leaves and stir them in as well.
6. Season to your taste, stirring all the while.
7. Reduce to low heat and allow to simmer for about ten minutes before serving. 

Mmm..... 

Thoughts on Committing to Heart

"My son, keep your father’s commandment,

and forsake not your mother’s teaching.

Bind them on your heart always;

tie them around your neck.

When you walk, they will lead you;

when you lie down, they will watch over you;

and when you awake, they will talk with you.

For the commandment is a lamp and the teaching a light,

and the reproofs of discipline are the way of life,..."  -Proverbs 6:20-23

How quickly I forget the things that I should commit to heart. Words of encouragement, wisdom, or correction, spoken in truth. These are the first things I forget to remember when pushier and more aggressive thoughts come up. Whether it is fear or disappointment or worry, I so easily open myself up to what is not the Lord's. 

In the process, I loosen the binds of what He has provided to protect and to guide me in His way, for His glory. I tear the words from my heart and His instructions off my neck. 

A new guard is stationed by my heart. A new yoke placed around my neck. They are not His. 

Why do I do this? Why do I forget who my master is and submit instead to the one that comes as a thief, threatening me? 

I am so blessed to have people in my life that seek and speak the truth. Their words, given and used by the same Spirit active in Scripture, are treasure. They are light along this way of faith. My prayer is that I will remember, instead of the things that demand my attention, the gentle and unwavering words shared with me by those who follow the Lord. 

There are so many different things said. And done. And promoted. And disguised as good. It is hard to keep closer to the truth than such things. 

Yet, we are to bind such truths to and to guard these hearts: 

"Retain the standard of sound words which you have heard from me, in the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. Guard, through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, the treasure which has been entrusted to you." -2 Timothy 1:13-14

Because these hearts have been: 

"...written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts." -2 Corinthians 3:3

I'm praying that the Lord will help me to tie more tightly the bindings He provides around my heart. And thanking Him for so many loving, truth-seeking people who have spoken and speak such treasures to me. It is hard to listen, it is hard to remember the things of the light when darkness creeps in on you. But thank the Lord for the work of the Spirit!