How the Sausage Is Made
Please welcome my friend Harriet Michael as today’s guest writer. Harriet and I met at Kentucky Christian Writers Conference. She is an award-winning author and freelance writer. Harriet currently has ten books on Amazon with another coming out next year. She also has hundreds of articles, devotions, and stories published in numerous magazines and books. Follow her on her website, blog, or Amazon author page.
How the sausage is made refers to the way something is created behind the scenes.
The process contains components a person might consider unpleasant. Usually the end product is pleasant, but the process involved in making it may have unpleasant steps.
How the Sausage Is Made
When delicious sausage is made, the process includes
- Cutting up animal meats
- Grinding them
- Adding spices
Cutting up and grinding animal meats may be unpleasant even to those who love sausage
The Expression’s Use
I recently used this expression when I shared how an article goes from an idea in my head to being in print. The finished product — the article beautifully laid out and printed in a magazine — is pleasant. However, the work can be unpleasant:
- Writing
- Rewriting
- Submitting to magazines
- The possibility of rejections before finding a magazine that accepts it
Letting people peer into that process is like letting them see how sausage is made.
In our lives we sometimes go through unpleasant experiences.
Like the process in making sausage, though unpleasant at times, those experiences end in something good. All who follow Jesus have a promise that the challenges we go through will ultimately end in good. Romans 8:28 (KJV) tells us, “All things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”
Image by ivabalk from Pixabay.
Do you have an expression you want explained or a thought about this one? If so, please comment below.
On Saturday, October 22, I will randomly select the name of one person on my mailing list to receive a free copy of Harriet and Shirley Crowder’s devotional book, Glimpses of the Savior: 50 Meditations for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and the New Year. If you are not already on my mailing list, you can sign up here.
If you enjoyed this post, please share it with your friends.
8 thoughts on “How the Sausage Is Made”
I am thankful that those bad experiences often lead to good experiences. Lessons can be learned in all situations. 🙂
I agree, Melissa. Faith and hope in God never let us down. Plus, we learn from every experience.
Love this one also Ms. Harriet. I’ve used this phrase since I was a little boy. Most of my context for this was, “I don’t care how the sausage is made, just get to the point.” Making sausage, as I’ve learned by doing, can be an arduous process. The cutting, mixing, sampling, adjusting, etc. until you get the recipe “just right” can take years. LOL In my case, I used this phrase in the business world when folks would want to explain to me how they derived at a conclusion, or the result of their findings/investigation. Often times in the business world, we only focus on the “bottom line” and not how the “sausage is made”. All we want to know if it tastes good or not. 🙂 God’s blessings.
I love this additional perspective, J. D. It helps me better understand an expression I had never heard it until Harriet mentioned it. Thank you. Blessings on your week.
This is such a good analogy. Having made sausage before, it makes perfect sense to me to make this comparison to writing. Both are hard work, have some very unpleasant components, yet offer the opportunity of joy and success if we persevere. Enjoyed this message–thank you!
I enjoyed reading Harriet’s analogy too, Katherine. I remember watching family members make sausage when I was a child, and it definitely had unpleasant steps. Such is writing and such is life, but we keep on keeping on. The final results make all those unpleasant moments well worth it.
I’ve often heard the sausage comparison to politics. Nice post! Thanks and God bless!
I can see that comparison, Nancy. Thank you. This was a new expression to me.