Being unwell comes with its own cravings and for the past few days, I had been craving palm nut soup. Yesterday, I got the opportunity to gulp in some precious "abɛ nkwan". In the process, I got a beautiful perspective I had been missing all this while.
No one likes the process of making palm nut soup, but everyone loves its sweet irresistible taste. The preparation process is tedious and messy coupled with the fact that it's so easy to get stained. You don't prepare palm nut soup in a white cotton shirt. No, you don't.
This edition of Ponder began with an enquiry into the palm nut soup preparation process. What is so unique about the palm and why does everyone hate making it. Also, what can this process teach us?
To give you some perspective, most Ghanaian foods are stressful to make and the preparation of palm nut soup is no exception. The palm nut soup preparation follows a simple, yet energy-intensive algorithm. Boil the nuts, pound them, filter them in a colander, squeeze the chaff out of the nuts, and then take it through more rounds of filtration.
To make it clearer, there are 4 levels of torture the nuts must go through to produce the sweet taste we are all familiar with:
- Boiling
- Pounding
- Squeezing
- Filtration
Let's start with boiling. The boiling process has one core purpose. We boil the nuts to soften them, kill any bacteria and prepare them for the next process. Here, the nuts are taken through intense heat and the heat tends to have the effect of opening the nuts up to release their flavour.
Next is the process of Pounding. Pounding the nuts has the effect of separating the palm fibre from the kernels. The taste is mainly in the fibre, and it has to be pounded to be released.
Then we come to the squeezing process. The nuts are poured into a container and the fibre is squeezed to extract its taste. The harder you squeeze it, the more likely you are to get more juice and flavour out of it. So you squeezeeeeee it with all your might and strength.
And remember that throughout this process, you will be using hot water for any mixture you make. There is little rest for the nut in this process. Every part of this process is hard.
The filtration process is quite simple. Filter the fibre from the liquid mixture you have. Your goal is to get fluid with no fibre in it. So you take it through several levels of filtration to get the ideal fluid with no fibre. You don't want us to be tasting fibre in your soup.
For a moment I'd want us to put ourselves in the shoes of the palm nut. The palm nut has to pass through a process of grave difficulty to produce the sweet-tasting soup we are all familiar with. It has to be boiled, pounded, sieved and squeezed.
As it is squeezed, its natural response might be to ask "God, why me?" "I don't deserve all of this". But what if God is saying that he's seen some beautiful soup in it and that it has to pass through the process to get it out.
I made a post a few days ago questioning the notion we have today that we can't go through difficulties because we are Christians. The post had mixed reactions, I must say. But who at all said we can't go through difficulties as Christians?
We have to come to understand that we would have to pass through the fire, the mortar, and the colander if we want to produce anything good. There are no shortcuts, we have to pass through it. We have to! If you take any shortcuts, you produce a bitter-tasting soup or a soup filled with fibre.
If we don't go through the rigour and the heat of the fire, we cannot stand the pressures of life. Take a closer look at everyone who was used by God and you'd realise that they had to pass through a sort of palm soup process.
Remember, God calls us and accepts us as we are, but he never uses us as we are! God would use an improved version of us. The improved version comes by going through the fire.
It is a terrible idea to run away from any form of fire or pressure that's meant to build you. Also, it is not good to stay in an environment that tells you that you're okay and that you're not built for suffering. Anyone who tells you that you cannot go through difficulties probably doesn't love you that much.
David, the man after God's own heart, says "Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I'd fear no evil. For God is with me". Paul comes in and says "We are hard-pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed."
These people do not ignore the presence of pressure, they rather acknowledge the existence of God's grace in all their challenges. David never said no evil would approach him, Paul never said he won't be persecuted. Their focus was on their response and on their focus. Their focus was on God.
So today, I'm back to tell you that you will be depressed sometimes, you will be broke sometimes, you would be broken sometimes, but your focus should be on your response to all of these. Would you still stand for Christ in all integrity in your brokenness?
But here is the beauty in the whole palm nut soup preparation process. After passing through all of this torture and accepting all feedback in the form of ingredients, the aroma of the soup spreads far and wide. It needs no announcer.
The aroma of your soup spreads to nations far and wide without a need for permission. It draws people of all colours, ages and backgrounds in. Then the soup is left to cool down a bit and it is dished out for everyone to taste and enjoy the beautiful handiwork of its maker.
This, my brothers and sisters, is the moment of appraisal. Would you be a tasty soup, an okay soup or a "meh" soup? The answer lies in your response to the messy preparation process (that no one saw).
I'm Joshua Eyram Wordey, and although I'm hard-pressed on every side I choose to remain in Christ even if that would mean that I'd be crushed! 🤝🏾❤️
