A Perfect Peanut Butter Sandwich

Greetings Dear Reader,

I love peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.  I have as long as I can remember.  A perfect one is as follows:

Fresh Sunbeam® bread

Smooth Jiff® Peanut Butter

Smucker’s® Strawberry Preserves

One must make two sandwiches as one is not enough.  The peanut butter must be spread thickly, about a quarter of an inch to the entire edges of the bread.  Thank you, Maxim for teaching me to use the back of a spoon for this instead of a knife.  It is much better suited to the task.

The jelly must be spooned on the other piece of bread at about an eighth inch thickness.  One must always

leave about a quarter inch of space on the edge of the jelly side so that the peanut butter can seal the sandwich.

The sandwich must always be fresh.  If one is to take them for lunch one should pack the makings separately and create the sandwiches at the moment.   Soggy PBJ is never a good thing.

Everything I have just written is absolutely the truth…for me.  There are some things that are essential to a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  They are bread, peanut butter, and jelly.  Anything beyond that is preference and taste.  Some people choose to eat crunchy peanut butter.  Some people like grape jelly.  I have made PBJ using left over pancakes as bread (this is quite good).  The point is that what is necessary to have a PJB and what we see as a perfect PBJ can be vastly different.

Following Christ is the same way.  There are things that are essential for me.  They are simple and direct.  I must insist that I believe and do those things.  I cannot say that beyond those simple things that anything is absolute truth.  How one worships God or how one feels about social issues are not my concern if those individuals are motivated by love for Christ.  I see it as insane that people like chunky peanut butter.  In my mind the existence of chunks violates the definition of butter.  That does not mean they are wrong. 

I must shed the filters of preference if I am to be wholly set apart to Christ.  I must end the division by promoting Christ, him crucified for my sins, and him risen for my redemption.  I can prefer many things within that freedom.  I can make choices about how to follow that are mine to live.  I must not demand that others do it the way I do it.  If I do I am violating the diversity that makes creation so beautiful. 

A perfect peanut butter sandwich is one that you savor and that fulfills your joy in eating it.  A perfect way to follow Christ is one that fulfills who he is and who he created you to be in him. 

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store."