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soup 750CF

When God the master chef gets to work….

Jane Walters has been creating soup, and marvels at how such a combination of sometimes disparate and random ingredients can produce a nourishing and worthy end product.

With the changing of the clocks and the sudden plunge into earlier twilights and dusk, there is no denying we’re in the closing months of the year. The poet Keats famously called Autumn the ‘season of mists and mellow fruitfulness’ but, for me, this is soup season. It has nothing of the same lyrical charm, it has to be said, but it nevertheless highlights what feels like a special positiveness about what might otherwise feel a bleak time.
 
The thing about soup is how nourishing it is, despite (or sometimes because of) its simplicity. A handful of ingredients – not even necessarily fresh ones – thrown together in a pot and left to their own devices become a bowl of warming, hearty sustenance.
 
I’ve been co-leading a creative writing retreat in Staffordshire this half term, attended by over twenty Christian writers at varying stages of their writing journey. We were a disparate bunch of ranging ages, and backgrounds as diverse as you could imagine; yet what served our commonality was our shared love of words and our passion to express them as ably as we could.
 
We laughed together over silly exercises – one of which had the main character in my first novel meeting Saint George (of dragon fame) at a caravan park in North Wales on a wet, Bank Holiday weekend; and we wrestled with points of grammar and style. Free time was spent picking the brains of our fellow attendees, sharing with each other and being inspired by their progress.
 
Have I changed the subject away from soup? Forgotten what I intended to say? Rambled off at a tangent? No, far from it! Because this week of fellowship and learning has fed not just our mind but our souls. Being mixed together and, at times, feeling the heat, resulted in a special blend that only God could have concocted.
 
As surely as He is the Master Gardener, bringing produce from the earth, He is also the Master Chef, knowing how to bring the best flavour from His creation. Whilst individual vegetables can be enjoyed in their own right, it is in combination that they start to shine – coupled with just the perfect amount of seasoning.
 
At the retreat, there was a real sense of God having placed each of us there, quite intentionally, to bless the others. But I’m convinced that He seeks to do that in our everyday settings, too; bringing people across our paths – and thresholds – to blend us into something that warms, cheers and nourishes.
 


Jane Walters 175Jane Walters, formerly Clamp, is the author of Too Soon, a mother’s journey through miscarriage (SPCK) and a regular contributor to Premier Radio and UCB. She leads creative writing retreats and is a popular speaker locally and further afield. Visit: janewyattwalters.com

 
 

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