Past Memories, Comfort & Pear Relish . . .

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.”

2 Corinthians 1: 3-4

Anniversaries can be fun and exciting, like the year my husband took me to Paris to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary. Anniversaries can also be sad and depressing, like remembering the day a loved one died. Last weekend marked the one year anniversary of Hurricane Helene; a storm many people are still trying to recover from, an anniversary that still brings tears and nightmares to some who lived through it.

Anniversaries, like birthdays and other celebrations, are a way of remembering the past, good and bad. Commemorating events, creating holidays and times of celebration is common in all cultures over all time. People seem to come wired with a need to remember, to respond, and to resonate corporately over major events.

Some major events are public; wars, hurricanes, terror attacks and Thanksgiving. Some events are more private; a birthday, a car accident, losing a child or a parent, family vacations. Public or private, big or small, good or bad, remembering enables you to work through the events that have shaped your life.

In the Bible, God tells the Israelites to celebrate three major holidays or Holy Days each year. One of them, the Passover, specifically reminds them of their deliverance from Egypt. Passover brings back amazing memories; memories of slavery and hardship as well as memories of the power of God to rescue and save. Celebrating year after year allows all the Jewish people to experience and learn from this pivotal event, even those that did not live through it. Thousands of years after the event, people still remember the parting of the Red Sea with awe and wonder and a deep appreciation for the God who hears and delivers.

It is in the remembering that healing can come. When you remember you can choose to refocus, to find solace and comfort beyond the hurt, loss and/or devastation. We live in a fallen world, and much as I would like to eradicate sin, death and disease, I cannot. Somehow through all that bad, God promises to comfort us. II Corinthians calls God the “Father of mercies and God of all comfort”. Ironically the verse promises that God will comfort us in all our affliction. Quite honestly, I would rather just be done with the affliction so that I don’t need any comfort!

Afflictions, abound; but the love of God abounds more. And as we lean into the love of God, leaning into His grace and mercy and comfort, we become conduits of that love, able to comfort others with the love He has poured into us.

My oldest daughter experienced a devastating miscarriage a few years ago. She hurt desperately. Life felt dark and hard for her, but slowly she felt the presence of God speak comfort to her soul. She called me a short time ago, crying. She and her husband had been ministering to a friend, praying for a mom who had lost a baby. She had been comforting another soul with the comfort she had found in God. Neither of these women wanted to experience the kind of affliction they endured, but God brought them together in His mercy, to weep and find comfort.

What afflictions have you been through that God can use to comfort another? Do you remember? Are you able to think through the events in your life and allow God to use them for good? Life is hard but God is good. He desires your growth and wants the very best for you. Can you trust Him to comfort you?

I have a dear friend that has fond memories of making pear relish with her mom. Her mom is now gone, so sometimes that memory is a sad one. I always tell her to remember the joy of making pear relish with her mom; I tell her to relish the fact that she had a mom she loved and made pear relish with. And now, I make pear relish with her. Together we remember both the joy and the sorrow, and we commemorate love in the kitchen.

I am going to share the pear relish recipe with you, while acknowledging that finding the appropriate pears is a challenge. This is an old recipe, made from wild, hard pears. My friend’s family grew them on property they used to own, so I keep an eye out for wild pear trees. As life goes, I had located a wild pear tree not too far from my house just before Hurricane Helene hit. I had spoken with the owners and received permission to pick twenty pears per year, to make pear relish. We made one batch, the storm hit, and the pear tree was gone. I’m back on the hunt for wild pears!

Pear Relish

20 hard pears
6 bell peppers—finely diced
6 medium onions— finely diced
1/2 head of celery— finely diced
1 8 oz jar of French’s mustard
3 cups of sugar (more or less depending on the sweetness of the pears)
3/4 cup flour
1 tbsp salt
1 tbsp tumeric
5 cups white vinegar
1/2 a 1.8oz. jar of pickling spices

Peel and core the pears, then chop by hand or food process the pears. I used the shredder attachment of my food processor. The size of your pear pieces will influence the consistency of the relish. If you like chunky relish, dice the pears, if you like it saucier use the shredding function.
Dice by hand or food process, the celery, peppers and onions.
Place the pickling spices in a well tied ball of cheese cloth. You want the flavors to blend into the relish, but not the actual spices. You can use kitchen string to tie it, or just carefully tie the cloth.
Put everything in a large pot and bring to a boil.
Simmer and stir for 15-20 minutes.
Ladle hot relish into prepared canning jars. Then follow instructions for canning. Relish will last up to a year in the pantry if properly canned. If you don’t want to do the canning thing, just close your jars and put the relish in the refrigerator, giving away as much as you can for immediate use. Relish will last six months in the refrigerator.