If you were to “GOOGLE” Turkey Brine Recipes, you will see that there are over 800,000 possible links that you can use! Amazing! That is a lot of brine!
Well, this year, I decided to brine the lucky bird that Jen purchased for our Thanksgiving feast. We began to defrost the bird on Sunday evening, then on Wednesday morning, we plunged the partly frozen bird into a bag of chosen spices, salt, and about 5 gallons of ice water. For 27 hours our 18 lb. bird soaked in this brine of deliciousness. After 2 hours and 35 minutes of cooking on Thursday morning, our family enjoyed what was described as the “juiciest turkey we have ever roasted”! Man it was delicious! Not being prideful, simply telling the truth!
Brining this bird got me to thinking about the brining in real life. Life could be considered one really big brining session. So many things that we “sit in” through life, really do prepare us for the positive or negative of the life that we live. There is in the Bible there are a couple of passages of scriptures that really guarantee a brine that will produce a life that will be lived with purpose and effectivity for the Gospel of Jesus Christ!
The first in the “Life Brine” recipe, is a list of preparations that we need to focus on…
Philippians 4:8, “Fix your thoughts on what is TRUE, and HONORABLE, and RIGHT, and PURE, and LOVELY, and ADMIRABLE. Think about things that are EXCELLENT and WORTHY of PRAISE.”
The second is list of ingredients of our “Life Brine” that should fill the “mixing bowl” of our hearts…
Galatians 5:22-23, “But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: LOVE, JOY, PEACE, PATIENCE, KINDNESS, GOODNESS, FAITHFULNESS, GENTLENESS, and SELF CONTROL. There is no law against these things.”
The third is a list of circumstance that our “Life Brine” will be used in most effectively…
ROMANS 5:3-5, “We can rejoice, too, when we run into PROBLEMS AND TRIALS, for we know that they helps us DEVELOP Endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and CHARACTER STRENGTHENS OUR CONFIDENT HOPE OF SALVATION. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.”
Of these verses, the Holy Spirit has an active role in the ingredients and attributes! This holiday season, let me encourage you to let the Holy Spirit “BRINE” your heart and mind. If you do, you will watch and feel your life becoming more and more like Christ!
And that is the goal of us all! Merry Christmas!