Yet you, LORD, are our Father.
We are the clay, you are the potter;
we are all the work of your hand.
Isaiah 64:8 (NIV)
I love this verse. Over the past year God has been molding and shaping me. He is the potter. He has provided a way for me to follow my dream.
I got to thinking of chocolate the other day, I can think about chocolate a lot. I did a little research on it.
In the same way He is the potter and we are the clay, well just follow along….
Have you ever looked at a handmade, lovely chocolate confection? I mean really looked, before you even get it close enough to smell and then that first luscious taste.
Chocolate is beautiful to look at.
It has color, texture and shine.
It is said we eat with our eyes first. Chocolate is a perfect example.
The best, highest quality chocolate is chocolate very high in cocoa butter, called Couverture Chocolate. Most commercial candy bars and chocolates have had most cocoa butter removed and replaced with vegetable oil. The vegetable makes it more stable and easier to work with.
And it tastes OK, but, it just cannot compare to the good stuff.
Couverture Chocolate is difficult to work with, a little unstable, but well worth the trouble.
When a chocolatier starts to create a confection, he has to melt the chocolate. That, of course, takes heat. The heat causes a reaction in the chocolate. It looses its temper. Wow, does that sound familiar?
If allowed to just cool on its own, without tempering, it looses its shine, will have dull gray streaks and will be mushy instead of crisp.
The chocolatier, now, so his confections have beauty and shine, must bring the chocolate back into temper. Slowly he brings the temperature down. Then at just the perfect time, the chocolate must be agitated, stirred. Then very gently he lowers the temperature a little more. Once he reaches right temperature the chocolate is again in temper.
Wait now, the chocolatier needs to bring the temperature back up, just a bit, so he can work with the chocolate.
Now he can dip yummy truffles or jellies in the chocolate, pour it into molds and create those beautiful and shiny confections that only he could see in a formless lump of chocolate.
It takes a firm but gentle hand, patience, to create these lovely treats.
A loving hand.
The chocolatier loves chocolate.
It dawned on me a couple of days ago how very much this process for tempering chocolate is like the process God is using to mold me into a beautiful and shiny woman.
When the pressure is on, the heat goes up. I lose my temper.
He goes to work, sometimes He brings the heat down, sometimes He agitates, and sometimes He takes the heat up again.
At just the right time. The perfect time.
What ever it takes to mold me into that woman only He can see in a formless lump of chocolate.
A woman He can use to His glory.
His firm but gentle hand is working in my life.
I know I’m difficult and a little unstable. I believe He thinks I’m worth it.
You’re worth it too.
When the heat is on, when there’s nothing but agitation. When times are good and all of a sudden the heat comes back, Just remember…
The Chocolatier Loves Chocolate.
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