Boiling it Down

One spring we decided to tap the large sugar maple in the back yard and try making syrup.  It all started with a trip to the Amish hardware store up the road.  There was a kit for sale and I decided to give it a go.  I have since learned that the best place to drill the hole is on the south side of the tree under a large branch.  I didn't know that at the time, but I got lucky and drilled the hole in the right place.  And the sap began to flow.

Over the next several days, the bag connected to the spile would collect sap and we would pour it off into milk jugs.  Then after a while it was time to boil it down.  The ratio between sap and syrup is 40 to 1.  In other words, it takes 5 gallons of sap to make a pint of syrup.  Someone had told me that it was best to boil it over a wood fire.  So on a cold April day I built a fire, set a large pot on it and began to boil.  For hours and hours it boiled and I tended the fire.  Then I brought it in the house and put it on the stove and boiled it some more.  Then I put it away and boiled it some more the next day.

In the end I did get some syrup.  But more importantly, I got that out of my system and haven't felt the need to do it again. 

There are many places in life where we condense things down.  Like the sap and syrup, if its in its original form it is so diluted that we can't appreciate it.  When we go on a trip, we can't do everything in a particular area, so we boil it down to those things that interest us,  When we watch the evening news, they can't tell us about every thing that happens every where, so they boil it down to the highlights.  As humans, we can only keep track of so many things.  So we categorize and summarize and condense so that our brains can handle it all.

And so it it with the Ten Commandments.  If we ask how to live a Godly life, there are many things to do in many different circumstances.  The Jewish Law had hundreds of rules and that was before the internet and social media (which would have probably added a few hundred more).  So God gave us the Ten Commandments, a summary of the Law.  And while it doesn't cover everything, it is a good start.  

And then Jesus took it all and boiled it down further.  Jesus said that all of the Law could be summarized in two commands.  Worship God with all your heart and Love your neighbor as your self.  

Worship God and Love those around you.  That pretty much says it all.

Watch this video from Pastor Chris.

So in the end it all boils down to one thing, Love.  First God and then each other.

Have a good week.