Tuesday, January 12, 2010

30 Days of Touching

Day 9: Pickin’ Chicken

This afternoon, I spent a very long time pickin’ chicken off the bone. I made one of my favorite soups—white bean chicken chili. In order to prepare the soup, I had to stew two chickens in a large pot. (I’m making some to freeze.) Well, let me tell you, it’s a lot of work picking the meat off the bones of two chicken carcasses!

With my hands covered in grease, I labored over each of the parts, trying not to waste any of the meat. I shredded the meat with my hands, pulled it away from the bones, and painstakingly separated the “wheat from the chaff.”

As I was handling all this stuff, I kept thinking, “God, how is my touching a way to experience you?” Several Scripture came to mind, like the word of God “piercing the division between joint and marrow” and the parable of separating the wheat from the chaff.

Finally, what began to speak to me is how resourceful God is, never letting anything go to waste. He gets his hands messy doing his work; he patiently separates what is useful from what isn’t; and he perseveres until his work is done. I am encouraged from a lifetime of evidence, that God can use anything as a tool of transformation and take anything and turn it into something good.

How have you seen God take the scraps from your life and turn them into resources that bless?

P.S. Here’s the recipe, just in case you asked:

Beth's White Bean Chicken Chili

Ingredients:

1 whole chicken or 3 chicken breasts
32 ounces of chicken broth
3 cans of great northern beans undrained
1 can of green chilies
1 can of Rotele tomatoes
8 ounces of cream cheese
1 cup of half and half
1 T cumin
Dash of cayenne pepper

Preparation:

Stew the chicken in the broth until fully cook. Take off the bone and shred; add to broth.
Puree 1 can of beans and the cream cheese in the blender until creamy.
Add to broth.
Add the rest of the ingredients and simmer for 30 minutes.

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