<h2>Making Vinegar</h2>

You've heard the expression, "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade?" Well, how about this one: "When life gives you junk wine, make vinegar?" This is my vinegar crock. I keep it in my pantry. You start by pouring in a bottle of apple cider vinegar (raw, unfiltered, with the "mother" - which is what they call the vinegar culture - not an exotic period in history) then dump in any wine you happen to have that doesn't meet your high standards of excellence. Keep a clean cloth over it so that the vinegar can breathe, but not with any bugs. From time to time (maybe once a week or so) add a glassful, or the rest of a bottle of wine. After a few months, lift off the thick layer of culture that will have formed on top, so it won't take over the entire production. By now you can probably open the spigot and fill up a small bottle. Maybe even attach a fancy label, which you've just designed and printed out. What I was doing today. Voila, add oil and you get dressing.

It's also a good parable for life, which often hands us junk. One of my first blog posts was on this very subject, but something we have to keep going back to. I do anyway. Every time there's a set-back, large or small, the temptation is to have a pity party, to whine, grumble, complain and blame. I need lots of reminders to look for the opportunity, the possibility or prayer in the situation. To keep remembering that God is good, and that he is doing a good work in me and,

"will carry it on to completion until the day of Messiah Jesus." Philippians 1:6