PASTOR DAVE’S MUSINGS FROM THE HEARTLAND

September 7, 2022

JELL-O

One of the staples of the Hogsett household when I was growing up was jell-o.  Depending on what my mother put into it, it could either be a salad or a dessert.  Shredded carrots were included for a salad and sliced bananas for a dessert.  However, the same combination might be used for either part of the meal depending on my mother’s inclination.

Jell-o salads and desserts were also a staple of church pot lucks.  You could always find them at funeral dinners.  Very often there were several combinations from which to choose.  Someone always brought jell-o to family gatherings and get-togethers.  But no matter the combination or the occasion, I grew up loving jell-o.

For some reason about twenty or twenty-five years ago jell-o disappeared from my diet.  Diane didn’t make it at home.  It has disappeared from church socials.  And I did not choose it when it was on a menu or at a buffet.  About the only time I got it was when I was in the hospital following surgery when one of the few things I could have to eat was gelatin.  Sure tasted great.

I was reintroduced to jell-o looking for a substitute for all of the carbohydrate rich desserts that had been a part of my diet.  A serving of sugar free gelatin dessert – jell-o to me – has only 5 calories and no carbohydrates.  Unfortunately, the calories and amount of carbohydrates does increase some with the addition of fruit.  However, the total for both is much less than the cookies, pies, cakes, and other enticing desserts I had been eating.

My rediscovery of jell-o got me to thinking of many other favorites I discarded in the past and are now waiting to be reintroduced in the present.  With no sports and depressing national news on the television, I have been driven to watch the Hallmark Move and Mystery channel.  There I have discovered a number of programs that I watched faithfully for many years.

There is a cyclical nature to the Book of Judges.  The Hebrew people face a threat; they call upon the Lord for help; He sends a rescuer; the people return to the Lord; over a period of time they forget their commitment to put the Lord first; once again there is a threat; and the whole cycle begins again.  We have here an illustration of the human tendency to allow things we hold dear and consider to be important to slip away.  We wake up one day and they are gone.  It takes some intervention to make us realize that they are even disappeared.

One of the reasons that we allow favorites to drop out of our daily lives is that other things take their place.  I have not given up television.  What has changed is the content of the programs I watch.  I never gave up eating desserts but I did let jell-o fade as one of the choices.  In the long run I doubt if any of my life style changes had any cosmic consequences.

However, as the Book of Judges points out, letting our faith in the Lord fade can have cosmic consequences.  We can wake up one day and find ourselves in deep trouble because we have strayed.  We can be like the prodigal son who wakes up one day and finds himself in a far country, having lost everything of importance.  Fortunately, our heavenly Father is waiting for us to come home.  Very often He is more willing to help than we are to ask.  It is never too late to recapture the faith of days gone by.