Mary Pat Johns, A Different Perspective
This past Easter season, my grandsons and I dyed eggs. In years past, I think I’ve bought every egg-dying kit that exists. We’ve dissolved tablets in little cups with vinegar more times than I can remember and colored eggs in fancy iridescent shades, soft pastels, and bright primary hues. When the kids get old enough, we’ll go one step further and make egg salad at Mamaw’s, but so far, I’ve been content to let their mothers deal with the cartons of boiled eggs.
My favorite way to dye eggs is to use whipped cream and food coloring. Shaving cream is an option, but you can’t lick fingers with that medium. When the day came, I showed the boys the magazine picture, and they were all in.
In the project’s first step, I split previously boiled eggs into two bowls and poured vinegar over the eggs for three minutes. Skipping this step is possible, but vinegar brightens the colors. Then I took two cookie sheets (with sides) and a wide knife and spread a thick layer of Cool Whip on each sheet. I showed them how to squeeze a dot of food coloring (the gel tubes work best) onto the canvas of whipped cream. They loved it and made sure they used all the colors. Once they covered the whipped cream with different colored dots, I showed them how to drag a toothpick through the concoction. At this point, I cautioned them not to over mix the colors—it needs to stay swirly. Over mixing will turn it into a blah kind of gray that isn’t pretty.
The most awesome part was when they got to roll each egg in the whipped cream. NOT breaking the eggshells was a challenge for young boys, but we managed. They rolled eggs and licked their fingers to their heart’s content. When all the eggs were sufficiently covered in whipped cream, we took the pans to the sink, where they washed the mix off each egg. They were delighted to see the eggs retain the various colors, creating a marbling effect.
Clean-up consisted of washing the whipped cream from the cookie sheets and ensuring the food coloring tubes were properly capped. Little hands and fingers retained some of the food coloring dye, but that was a pleasant reminder of their fun rolling the eggs.
A funny side note. One of their girl cousins looked through my phone pictures at Easter and saw the boys’ egg project. I did it with them a few years ago, but they’ve forgotten. Needless to say, they’ve insisted on getting “their turn” to dye eggs.
As much fun as it was to dye the eggs, there’s a point where it’s hard to visualize anything good coming out of the messy process.
Are you in the middle of some project or circumstance in your life that looks like an ongoing mess with no end in sight? Getting a book published seems like it will never happen, but in reality, I need the right fit for both me and a publishing team. It’s taking longer than I want, but that’s where faith comes in. If I let doubt and discouragement get the upper hand, I won’t pursue publication with the energy it requires. Sometimes, it does seem easier to let that dream fall by the wayside instead of pursuing what God has put in my heart.
But I’m learning to take joy in the journey and do my very best rather than impatiently churn out an inferior product.
Doubt is like leaving the eggs in the whipped cream and dye. If you don’t push through, you’ll miss the beauty of the finished product.