Annie's
"Easter Ham Story" Page
"Let not
him that eateth despise him that eateth not; and let not him
which
eateth not judge him that eateth: for God hath received
him."
~Romans 14:3~
Have
you ever wondered WHY you do some of the things that you do?
Are we creatures of habit or does our environment play a big part
in our lives?
Does genetics decide what makes us who we are?
"For
there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, thou knowest
it altogether"
~Psalms 139:4~
"For
thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother's
womb. I will
praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous
are thy
works; and that my soul knoweth right well. "
~Psalms 139:13-14~
Yes
indeed, "We are fearfully and wonderfully made".
Read or reread Psalms 139 to remind yourself of how
much the Lord knows about
you and yet He still loves you.
We
are exactly what the Lord planned for us to be. He loves us not
because of what we have done or will do but
because of who He is. He loves us because of what His son Jesus
did for us by dying on the cross.
Jesus was the ultimate yet necessary perfect sacrifice. Remember
that "without the shedding of
blood there is no remission of sin" (Hebrews 9:22).
His love for us is unconditional and undeserved!
OK, so let's get to the Ham Story........
I don't know the source of this story but I really do love it. Hope you do too.
Once
upon a time a mother and daughter who were working together
in the kitchen preparing the Easter dinner.
They always worked together to make their special traditional
family Easter meal. No matter what the mother
was doing, it seemed that the daughter was always watching her
intently. The mother could even feel her
daughters big brown eyes on her without even turning to see if
she was in the room. Yet she continued with
her task of preparing the meal without even missing a beat or a
blink.
As she did every year the mother took the pan out of the cupboard
and set it on the counter. Then she went
to the fridge and removed the ham that had been defrosting. They
had a large ham this year.
It was not unusually large or different then last year's ham.
She took the wrapping off and then proceeded to cut about an inch
off of either end of the ham.
Before the mother even put the ham in the pan the daughter stopped her and said:
"Mom why did you cut the ends off the ham?".
The
mother stopped in her tracks and pondered the question. She was
rather perplexed since no one had ever
asked her why she cut the ham that way before. She had done it
that way as long as she could remember.
The mother answered her daughter and said: "Well sweetie, I
really don't know the answer to your question.
Your Grandma always cut the ends off of her ham and I have just
naturally done the same thing. I never ever
wondered why I did that though. So let's call Grandma and ask her
why she cuts the ham that way."
So they grabbed the phone and called Grandma. Then the mother
asked her mother if she knew why
she cut the ends of the ham off before placing it in the pan.
The Grandmother stopped and became rather quiet. She hadn't
thought about her ritual of cutting the ham
being anything different then normal. Then it occurred to her
that her own mother had done the very same
thing for as long as she remembered. The Grandmother suggested
that the daughter call her mother
and ask her that very question.
So
she hung up the phone and dialed the little girl's
great-grandmother. After the usual pleasantries she asked
her why she cut the ends of the ham off before cooking it. She
replied without hesitation and with a smile in
her voice along with a little chuckle...... The reason that she
cut the ends off of the ham was because
back in the early days of their marriage she didn't have a pan
big enough to hold the ham. They couldn't
afford to buy a bigger pan either. So that was the only way to
make the ham fit in the pan.
Now we know why she has done that for as long as they can
remember and so do you!
What does the Bible say about HAM?
"The
carcases of every beast which divideth the hoof, and is not
cloven footed, nor cheweth the cud, are unclean
unto you: every one that toucheth them shall be unclean."
~Leviticus 11:26~
Do
you know what the Bible says about Ham and Pork? Both Pork and
Pig were not found in the Bible
when I did a search.
Ham
is mentioned in 16 verses but they all refer to the son of
Abraham. To learn more about him visit
Annie's Noah's Ark Page
Just
to clarify things...... I am certainly not telling people to eat
pork or to not eat pork. I am not the Holy
Spirit. It is important to learn what the whole Bible says about
this and then ask the Lord what you should do.
As Christian's we are not to be bound by the "law" of
the Old Testament but we are not to offend those that
are weaker or younger in their faith either. Read the New
Testament passages about this HERE.
"Judge not,
and ye shall not be judged:
condemn not, and ye
shall not be condemned:
forgive, and ye shall be forgiven:"
~Luke 6:37~
"I
know, and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus, that there is nothing
unclean of itself:
but to him that esteemeth any thing to be unclean, to him it is
unclean."
~Romans 14:14~
Here
are some study pages to check out on this subject:
Nave's Topical Bible has: Clean and unclean animals & Unclean
Baker's Evangelical
Dictionary
has: Clean, Unclean & Unclean Spirit
Smith's Bible Dictionary has: Unclean meats
Actually
Ham in the Old Testament was considered an UNCLEAN animal and the Jewish
people were not to eat it.
To find out more about the foods we that are considered
"clean and unclean" visit Nave's Topical Bible page
about Food. We are not bound by the
laws of the Old Testament but it is interesting and can't hurt us
to learn
about why these foods were considered unclean. It is pretty
amazing how the Old Testament Laws about food &
sanitation were given so long ago,
yet we are just learning now the significance of them. It is
mentioned that they
were told to throw away cracked pottery. Now we know that
bacteria grows in them if they are cracked and can
make you very ill. God's provision and care for us is
immeasurable. Our God is truly an awesome God!
It
is rather ironic that people actually eat HAM on Easter. Ham is
an unclean and forbidden food for the
Jewish people and Easter is based on Eshtar the pagan god. Oh
well!!! To learn more about the history
of Easter visit: Annie's Easter History Page
Send a Food And Drink card to a friend:
You can see all the different cards I have available at Annie's
Card Shop.
To see a listing of all my Easter pages visit: Annie's Easter Welcome Page
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