Wrapped Like Golumpki
My grandmother would always make what we affectionately called piggies. Some call them pigs in a blanket, or stuffed cabbage or cabbage rolls. Traditionally, they’re known as Golumpki, pronounced GOOWUMPKI. It is basically meat, rice, and spices wrapped tightly into a cabbage leaf and cooked in a tomato-based sauce. A Polish classic! And it was always found on our dinner table at every holiday meal when the family got together. It just wouldn’t be a holiday without Grammy’s pot of piggies.
The end product was always so delicious. But what I equally remember about them is the skill my grandmother had in making them. Boy, she had it down to a science. I can still picture her sitting at her small, round kitchen table with a tall stack of cabbage leaves on one side of her and an oversized bowl of meat & rice mixture on the other side. No measuring cups were needed as her strong, wide, Polish hands would then scoop out the perfect amount of meat and rice and place it at one end of the cabbage leaf. She then began to roll the cabbage carefully and precisely around the meat & rice mixture. She made it look so easy (though we all know that anything that looks easy probably took a whole lot of time, patience, and practice for it to get to that point) as she wrapped it over as tight as can be and tucked in the sides as snug as she used to tuck me into bed. The mixture was so tightly wrapped inside the leaf that when she cooked them in the pot of tomato sauce, they never broke apart. In fact, it actually took a little effort sometimes to cut them open to eat them. Every piggy was wrapped tight and secure. One thing is certain, my Grammy was Golumpki Queen.
Grammy passed years ago, but her piggies live on in our memory and continue to show up at family holiday meals when my brother, William, makes up a delicious batch for us. Today, though, God is using them to illustrate just how secure we are in Him. (Yes, God will use even Golumpki as a picture to teach us!) In a world that is shaking and uncertain, we are wrapped in God’s arms, love, and protection like meat and rice mixture wrapped tightly in a cabbage leaf. We are rolled up, tucked in, and hidden inside Him. We are so secure, that even if we are placed inside a ‘pot of testing’ and ‘boiled in tomato sauce’, we will still come out whole. His ‘cabbage leaves’ will not fail us. He will never unravel on us and leave us boiling in the pot unprotected.
Who can harm the ones He loves? Who can destroy the ones He protects? No one! There is no enemy that is stronger than Him. There is no trial that can separate us from Him. We are His beloved. We are His treasure. We are His precious ones wrapped tighter than Golumpki.
The end product was always so delicious. But what I equally remember about them is the skill my grandmother had in making them. Boy, she had it down to a science. I can still picture her sitting at her small, round kitchen table with a tall stack of cabbage leaves on one side of her and an oversized bowl of meat & rice mixture on the other side. No measuring cups were needed as her strong, wide, Polish hands would then scoop out the perfect amount of meat and rice and place it at one end of the cabbage leaf. She then began to roll the cabbage carefully and precisely around the meat & rice mixture. She made it look so easy (though we all know that anything that looks easy probably took a whole lot of time, patience, and practice for it to get to that point) as she wrapped it over as tight as can be and tucked in the sides as snug as she used to tuck me into bed. The mixture was so tightly wrapped inside the leaf that when she cooked them in the pot of tomato sauce, they never broke apart. In fact, it actually took a little effort sometimes to cut them open to eat them. Every piggy was wrapped tight and secure. One thing is certain, my Grammy was Golumpki Queen.
Grammy passed years ago, but her piggies live on in our memory and continue to show up at family holiday meals when my brother, William, makes up a delicious batch for us. Today, though, God is using them to illustrate just how secure we are in Him. (Yes, God will use even Golumpki as a picture to teach us!) In a world that is shaking and uncertain, we are wrapped in God’s arms, love, and protection like meat and rice mixture wrapped tightly in a cabbage leaf. We are rolled up, tucked in, and hidden inside Him. We are so secure, that even if we are placed inside a ‘pot of testing’ and ‘boiled in tomato sauce’, we will still come out whole. His ‘cabbage leaves’ will not fail us. He will never unravel on us and leave us boiling in the pot unprotected.
Who can harm the ones He loves? Who can destroy the ones He protects? No one! There is no enemy that is stronger than Him. There is no trial that can separate us from Him. We are His beloved. We are His treasure. We are His precious ones wrapped tighter than Golumpki.
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