By Rae Lynn DeAngelis
My close friends and family call me “the salad queen” because my salads are filled with lots of colorful vegetables. Each week after I get home from the grocery, I gather-up all the fresh veggies I’ve just purchased and make a great big salad that we can eat throughout the week. (I find that we eat healthier when we have nutritious options like salad, fresh and ready to go.) My salads consist of a combination of lettuces (butter and spring), tri-colored peppers, cucumbers, celery, tomatoes, and last but not least, onions.
Feeling hungry yet?
Sometimes I use green onions; other times I use purple. When I’m feeling more adventurous, I use both. Most fresh veggies have a short shelf-life. Within a week they begin to spoil. Onions, however, are a different story. They can stay fresh a long time, especially if they are kept in a cold dark environment.
SIDE NOTE: Because onions are high in vitamin C and stay fresh for longer periods of time, old-time sailing vessels would include them in their food storage. During longer voyages to faraway places, onion consumption kept the sailors from getting scurvy, a nasty disease caused by vitamin C deficiency. You’re welcome! 😊
One thing I’ve noticed about onions is that after a while, the outside layers begin to soften and spoil. These softened layers can be peeled back and discarded, keeping the heart of the vegetable underneath fresh and ready to use.
I sense a spiritual lesson coming on, don’t you?
The analogy of peeling back onion layers is often used in explaining the process of spiritual growth or healing. Like peeling back an onion, we too must discard the old in order to make way for the new.
Are you harboring pent-up anger, bitterness, or holding back when it comes to forgiving others? Negativity has a way of pushing people away or spoiling the good fruit God wants to develop in our lives.
“My friends and companions avoid me because of my wounds; my neighbors stay far away” (Psalm 38:11 NIV).
We need to peel back the protective layers that no longer serve us well, so that we too can be fresh, new, and ready to use.
Start by going to the Great Physician and Wonderful Counselor, Jesus Christ, and through prayer and petition ask Him to remove that which is not of Him. Surrender and submission are vital throughout this process. It takes time, but it’s worth the effort. Trust me… I’ve learned this lesson more than once.
God helps us remove the old so we can make way for the new.
“Now, our God, hear the prayers and petitions of your servant. For your sake, Lord, look with favor on your desolate sanctuary” (Daniel 9:17 NIV).
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation” (2 Corinthians 5:17-18 NIV).
Lord Jesus, make us ever fresh and ready to use. Have your way in us, O Lord. Have your way. Thank you, Lord, for answered prayer. Amen
