lessons in applesauce

I made applesauce a few weeks ago. It went pretty well. We eat a lot of applesauce through the year, and the way we make it, it's more like apple pie in a jar rather than anything healthy. It's delicious!!

I took pictures during my little process, and I envisioned a blog post with pretty pictures and rows of beautiful applesauce all done and cleaned up. I have all those pictures, and they're very nice. But, that's not the story that this post is intended to tell.

No, the real reason I'm blogging about my applesauce Saturday is to tell you about the lessons I learned. Yes, lessons from making applesauce.

It began all fine and well. I cut up all the apples, cored them, and meticulously rid them of all that tough core/seeds/stems. Then I put those apples through the new nifty mill my mom bought. It worked great, except that my bowl of applesauce was filled with peel. It mashed up the apples just fine, but it also let tiny little bits of peel through as well. Not good. Not good at all.

I went a little nuts. All the work, all the $$ in the apples-and this batch is no good. I lost it. And as I explained the situation to Bryan, I threw the pan of peely applesauce into the sink. I threw it hard. It made a point, and I felt pretty good letting off some steam.

Fast forward a couple hours. New screen on the mill, the rest of the apples cooked, milled and canned. 11 pretty jars of applesauce resting on the counter, labeled and delicious.

Cleaning up the rest of the kitchen, I noticed water under the sink. A puddle of water. I was totally perplexed and wondered aloud to Bryan why there would be water under there. It took about 2 seconds for Bryan to assess the situation and come to the conclusion that there was a crack in our sink. A 12 inch crack, leaking water into the cabinet below. A 12-inch crack that came from a thrown pan a few hours earlier.

I felt an inch tall, ridiculously stupid, and completely sorry. I broke our sink. I cracked it in my anger over a some peels in the applesauce.

My husband is a saint. We packed up the girls, went to Lowe's, made a friend in the sink department and we were out the door for just under $400. Bryan switched out the sink, re-routed the plumbing, installed a new faucet......until 2am Sunday morning. Again, he's a saint.

Not once at Lowe's spending lots of $$, in the kitchen fixing, installing, cleaning, did Bryan get mad at me. Not a critical comment, not a shaming observation, nothing. He was gracious, calm, and practical. He is a blessing to me, even when I don't deserve it.

And, God gave me a daily reminder to control my anger. Every time I use our new sink I'm reminded of my stupid mistake that led to it's necessity. Every time I clean it, I remember how fast I can lose my temper and what trouble that anger can bring. I'm working on it. And, I think that this experience was just God enlightening me to one of my many sinful habits. It's amazing how easily sin can feel normal, no big deal, or harmless. But, really, sin is anything but that. I'm praying God helps me to control my anger. I'm praying that He enlightens me to other "un-noticed" sins. I'm also hoping that the next "enlightenment" doesn't cost so much money!