Monday, September 13, 2010

Husking Black Walnuts

9-13-10

as taught to TLC by her Heavenly Father

I found a brief moment in this very busy weekend to spend an hour peeling black walnuts, a time God had carved out for me so I could learn something more. The squirrels have been the only ones to really enjoy the black walnuts so I thought I’d try to harvest some again this year, especially since I end up picking up so many of them from my yard anyway.

To get to the actual black walnut, I had to get through the green outer husk and ended up using a hammer to accomplish this feat. I did think to wear gloves but I really needed to wear several sets, I discovered, since the husk holds a black stain that can penetrate pretty much anything. Of course, the riper the nut – the blacker the husk – and those held lots of insects. Yuck! I persevered and then put the nuts in water, not only to clean them but also to see which ones floated to the top because they were pretty empty inside.

After drying them off, setting them in the sun for bit and then taking them inside to cure for 2 weeks, I paused to thank God for that hour of quietness while husking. “Do you understand now?” He answered back. I stayed quiet because I really didn’t. He continued to share with me that through the very rough emotional time I had that past week, He was working on peeling my outer green husk off some more, gently but firmly. Yes, there were some gross things that came out of that husk, but He was intent on getting to the real nut – to find me and clean me off completely. But it’s a process and in heaven I’ll finally be cured!

Thank you, Lord for the blackened fingers! You really love nutty ol' me.

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