Canning is Like Giving Birth
July 27, 2009
Canning your harvest can be very much like child birth. Saturday as I was finishing up canning corn my friend Kelly called and told me that she cried as she watched the raw video I took during the recent birth of her daughter. I laughed at her as I often do. 
) For those that don’t know me, I rarely cry and have even been accused by my family as having no compassion (which is not true). lol…
Anyway, I was pretty tired after a rough week and then canning. When you can corn it makes a horrible mess every where and it is labor-some to husk, and cut all the corn off the cob, then to wash and scald jars and then process the corn for 85 minutes (UGH!) for each batch. It is time consuming and dirty work. At the end of the day as I looked around at my mess and my back was killing me I was asking myself, "Is this really worth it?"
When I finally finished, cleaned up my mess and looked at all of my BEAUTIFUL jars of corn I was so glad I did it!!!
Then I thought of Kelly, and I felt a similar feeling about canning or most anything when it comes to homemaking.
You start out with the end in mind (a pantry full of healthy food), then you get into the nitty-gritty, hard work and you start wondering if it is worth it, you just want to quit…kind of like parenting sometimes. ;o) THEN you just press on, focusing on the prize before you, and in the end you see that IT IS WORTH IT!!!
Anyone that has done canning, quilting, gardening, etc… once you finish you just want to sit back and enjoy the fruit of your labor.
Our life is not about ease; our life is about working, embracing our calling to the glory of God. Those that avoid the hard stuff and being dedicated are missing out on the true high in life. There is always an easier way to do things, but they do not bring the satisfaction knowing that you’ve done your job, and done your job well!!!
This weekend Kelly and I edited her labor and delivery video down to 10 minutes. This was her 8th child and her first natural birth. Is it hard work? You betcha!!! Worth it? No doubt, it is PRICELESS!!!!!!
P.S. I am not saying canning is as hard as birthing babies,
but it is similar! )
Topics: Canning, Family Tidbits | 7 Comments »
Comments (7)
I am speechless and teary eyed! Thank you for sharing this most wonderful video with us. Oh, my! I have 3 children of my own, but no “naturals”, although I was in labor with #3 for almost 24 hours, and chose to labor at home. Got to the hospital just in time for the meds, and had my daughter less than 2 hours after arriving.
Children are truly a gift from God! I’m so happy to know there are still some filling their quivers!
I was blessed that my third baby was born at home after 1/2 hour of labor (number two was born in the car). I don’t think I could labor naturally if I was in the hospital and knew medication was available and if labor went on for too long. But my natural births were much better than my first medicated birth. Was Kelly happy with the natural birth?
I cried too!
YOU were her friend that did this. I didn’t put 2 and 2 together before. I watched that this a.m.–it was beautiful. I hope it puts things in a beautiful light for her since she was having difficulty processing it before.
You did a super job!
What a beautiful video!! I cried too! What memories that brings back to me! Thanks for sharing.
I cannot share enough with you how this touched me. I am pregnant with my 8th child (only one of which was natural) and watching this totally calmed my fears—thank you so much for sharing your blessing with us. Again, I wish I could put into words what you did to my heart!
what a blessing! after 5 of my own births, i had the privilege 5 days ago to be with my oldest daughter as she birthed her first daughter, our granddaughter. thanks for sharing the video. thanks to God for the blessing of new life.