I can remember coming home from school when I was a kid, bursting in the door and smelling warm, homey aromas.  Those were the days of homemade whole wheat bread.  My mouth waters just remembering slathering that bread with butter and honey.  Mom made bread at least once a week and she made soup a lot:  ham and bean if we’d had ham for Sunday dinner or minestrone or vegetable beef if we had roast beef.  You get the idea.

If she had just put it together and it hadn’t cooked long enough, she’d say “it’s not soup yet”.  So we’d smell it, want some and she’d say “it’s not soup yet”.  We’d keep asking “is it soup yet?”  Until it was.

Years later, when Mom was talking about my baby sister, (really!  she was born while I was in college) she would use that descriptor.  She would relate her latest escapade or decision and by way of explanation add “she’s not soup yet”.

I shared this story with my sister-in-law recently.  It hadn’t occurred to me that her childhood experience would not be similar to mine.  We were both raised in the west and in the same religion.  But…..her mother was a single mom, a working mom.  She wasn’t there when she got home from school.  She didn’t bake homemade bread.

Then I realized there are so many different methods of making soup, some more complicated than others.  Some involve roasting bones, others opening cans.

But, once all of the ingredients are in the pot, and the simmering begins…..the goal is the same:  tender meat and veggies.  Essentially, it’s soup at that point.  But, the next day, when it’s reheated, a glorious transformation has taken place.  Time has passed, the flavors have mingled and are so much richer and more satisfying.

Life is like soup.  We struggle to bring all the right ingredients together.  We try to make the best choices.  Time passes.  We reassess the path we took.  Time passes.

Is it possible that because we’re in the pot (the trenches, so to speak), that we don’t see a transformation? But, that, indeed, one is taking place?  I believe that’s what life is:  a succession of change and transformation.  Otherwise, it’s not life!