Maybe tomorrow I'll be proud if he doesn't finish his homework...

"the dishes, the pans, the bowls..."

Numbers 4:7

My son disobeyed me today.  And I was really proud of him.

In my efforts to teach my kids how to keep house, I try to teach them not just cleaning stuff (how to do laundry, etc) but also how to do things efficiently.  Like putting things to soak, and then you can clean off the counters and maybe put the food away or whatever, and then when you go back to clean the dish or pan, it will be easier.  Efficient, right?  I made that up. 

Kidding, of course.

But I also have a rule that when you're putting your dirty knife, or your cereal bowl or whatever, in the sink, you do not put it in an already-soaking bowl, if that already-soaking bowl was used to cook something greasy or excessively saucy.  'Cause that's gonna make your dirty item to become completely dirty:  greasy or saucy.   Then I have to scrub every square inch of the item, when maybe the back or the handle only needs a cursory cleaning.  Or I have to put the item in the dishwasher, when I could have done it by hand. 

My family is pretty cooperative about these two things, although it has not come without some reminding.  And as the youngest, my son was probably the last to get in these habits.  (Although the Apple of my Eye was a close second.)

Well today at lunch, my boy made himself a delicious-looking fried rice bowl.  Made the rice, sauteed some veggies, cooked a little chicken, and then tossed some sort of Asian sauce over the top.  And he dutifully took the bowl in which he had cooked the rice over to the sink to fill it with water.  'Cause dried, stuck-on rice is particularly tricky to scrub if it hasn't been soaked.

But he couldn't put it in the sink, because I had put a large, very dirty pot in there to soak.  He knew he shouldn't put his rice bowl in the big dirty pot, but he also couldn't put his rice bowl to soak because there wasn't room in the sink.

Now, you should also know that he wasn't feeling well today, otherwise he would have just solved the problem by just washing the bowl, or filling it as much as possible and setting it on the counter or something.  But I happened to walk into the kitchen as he was caught in this dilemma, and he just looked up at me, almost helplessly. 

I kind of laughed, and helped him solve the problem, but I also told him how much I appreciated his efforts to be obedient to me.  Of course I'm not going to punish him, or even be angry, if he made a mistake or forgot.  If all of us are most of the time helping the house to run smoothly, then I have nothing to complain about. 

But just the fact that he was remembering, and giving thought to how I'd want him to solve this problem, was so sweet to me.  And again I'm reminded that this is how God is with us.  Sometimes we're not sure what the right to do is.  But our desire to please Him goes a long way.  I find great comfort in that.

~ "Through Him we have received

grace and apostleship

for obedience to the faith" ~

Romans 1:5

~

A Lesson From Shepherd's Pie

"they sat down to eat a meal"

Genesis 37:25

I was going through my recipes today, looking for a recipe for banana bread.   We have a few unappetizing looking ones in the fridge, that no one wants to eat.  And frankly, I can’t blame them.  But banana bread will be just the ticket. 

I’m also going to have to look for my pumpkin bread recipe soon.  We have a few pumpkins that have been our Autumn decorations, and we’ll need switch them out for the Christmas stuff in a few days.  At which point I’ll bake the pumpkins, and make bread out of them.  *yum*

While I enjoy browsing through cookbooks every now and then, what I love even more is going through my collected recipes.  Those are the tried and true.  Those are the memories, either of the person I got the recipe from, or of times when my family has eaten the food.  Maybe we enjoy it every year on a holiday, or maybe it’s one of my kids’ favorites.

But you know what I came across today?  A recipe for shepherd’s pie.   My kids love shepherd’s pie.  It’s a favorite for all of us, but it was something I had to learn.  We didn’t eat it when I was a kid.  Or if we did, I don’t remember, so it wasn’t something my mom did a lot. 

So at some point in my married life, I decided I needed to learn how to make shepherd’s pie.  I loved the idea of it.  I love foods that are intrinsic to a certain culture, and I think the idea of all those beautifully mashed potatoes on top appeals to the Irish in me.  

So I learned how, and now it’s one of my go-to recipes.  I love that it’s warm, I love the potatoes, and I love that I can doctor it up with whatever vegetables I happen to have on hand.  Or I can use ground turkey instead of ground beef.  Cheese or no cheese.... Options: gotta love ‘em.  

I smiled a little bit to myself when I saw that recipe.  It was just something cut out of a magazine, and tucked in the notebook I use for recipes.  I glanced at it and smiled, then I pulled it out…

… and I threw it away. 

And that made me smile, too.  

I threw it away because I no longer need it.  I've made shepherd's pie so often, I can do it with my eyes shut.  

Well, I'd make a mess, and I might burn myself, but I could do it. 

I smiled when I saw it, because I could hardly believe there was a time when I needed instructions for this process.  And that is an example of practice makes perfect.  

Repetition... following the instructions to the letter, as many times as you have to, until you know what to do.  Until you no longer have to think about it, because it's automatic.  

It works that way with spiritual stuff, too.  We can become kinder, more forgiving, more prayerful.  We just have to go through the motions several times ~ maybe for a few weeks, maybe longer.  We have to carefully follow the instructions until we have the method memorized.  And we might need to ask for help, the way we might need a second pair of hands in the kitchen until we have a recipe down pat.  

But it will come.  You'll learn what He wants from you, and it will become part of you.  And the best part is, when that happens, you'll be able to help someone else learn it, too.

~ "The things which you learned and received 

  and heard and saw in me, 

these do,

and the God of peace will be with you." ~

Philippians 4:9

~

The chicken or the egg? Doesn't matter. They both came from Him.

"cook the meat well,

     mix in the spices..."

Ezekiel 24:10

I made something new for dinner last night ~ chicken satay.  I think it's Thai, but I'm not sure.  I've never had it before.  And I've never had a bit of Thai before.  But I stumbled on the recipe yesterday afternoon, and I realized I had all the ingredients for it, so I decided to give it a shot.

And it was great!  It was several steps, but easily done in a logical fashion to ensure everything was ready at the same time.  I had to make a marinade for the chicken, and then let that sit for awhile.  In the meantime I made the sauce that would go over the dish at the end, and I set that aside.  Then when the marinated chicken was ready to cook, I did that while I made the coconut rice.

My Amazing Boy came to help me, because it was rather like three different recipes I had to follow:  the marinade, the sauce, and the rice.  And when it was all done, we had created something delicious.

Several years ago, in a discussion a Bible Study, one of my friends made the interesting point that since we are created in God's image, we are created to create ~ a point I think I've celebrated before in this forum.   I love knowing that.  I love knowing that the joy we get out of creating brings us a little closer to Him.  Like maybe we get a glimpse of how He feels about what He has created.

But in a way, I didn't really create anything.  At least, I didn't create out of nothing, the way God does.  Really what I did was mix, combine, and assemble.  I can make a sauce, but I used things like oil, garlic, sugar, and salt.  I got all those from Him.  

I could build a building, but the raw materials would have to come from Him.

I can write, but language ~ sounds, letters, words... they were His idea. 

Literally, I can do nothing without Him. 

CS Lewis makes a beautiful point, using the comparison of a child going to his father, and asking for money to buy the father a birthday present.  The father would, of course, give the child some money, and would be pleased with whatever the child gave.  But at the same time, the father would know that he was instrumental in what the child had accomplished for him. 

Anything I do, I do through the Lord.  Anything I do for Him, comes first from Him.  The desire, the idea, the ability...  All I'm doing is combining, mixing, or assembling, to come up with the finished product. 

I think He loves seeing us create.  He loves watching us make use of the brains and abilities He has given us.  But I would imagine He also gets tired of being ignored or forgotten by us.  When we're proud of what we've accomplished, we are keeping for ourselves the glory that belongs to Him.  Makes me want to thank Him for all the ways I see His hand in my life, and all the ways I don't see.

~ "His hand upon me,

       all the works of these plans..." ~

1 Chronicles 28:19

~

Bon Appetit!

"the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, 

  the onions and the garlic"

Numbers 11:5

I read a great quote recently.  Actually, I've read a lot of great quotes recently.  There's nothing better than a great quote, so I find them wherever I can!

This one was from Susan Wiegand, author of Cooking as Courtship, which I must confess, I never read.  I've never even heard of it, actually, so this isn't an endorsement by any means.  I just happened to come across this quote, which I do recommend...

"Oddly, it is not real cooks who insist that the finest ingredients are necessary to produce a delicious something... Real cooks take stale bread and aging onions and make you happy."

I think the reason this struck a chord with me is that I love doing that in the kitchen.  I love making a delicious and nutritious dinner out of what we have, especially when what we have doesn't seem like it's going to come together as a meal!

Are you familiar with the TV show "Chopped" on Food Network?  It's a competition wherein four chefs are given a basket of unusual ingredients that seem like they are not going to work well together.   For an appetizer, an entree and a dessert, they are given a limited amount of time to create something that will impress the judges, and earn them the $10,000 prize. 

And as impressive as that might seem, housewives everywhere do it every night. 

The spiritual connection here is simple ~ it's what God does, too.  He takes eleven weak men and sends them out to take the gospel to the ends of the earth.  He uses weak humans to do amazing things in the lives of other weak humans.   He takes the pain and mistakes and troubles in our lives, and uses them to grow and perfect us.  Romans 8:28.

But here's another spiritual challenge for each of us to think about:  "Am I doing this in my life?"

It's the thought behind, "when life gives you lemons, make lemonade".  Or "bloom where you're planted".  There is no challenge in doing a lot with a lot.  The challenge is in doing a lot with not very much.  Are you doing that?

Take a look at the goods and bads in your life and ask yourself, "What good can I make from this?" 

Then take what God has allowed in your life, and make something of it.  Grow closer to Him.  Edify others.  Be blessed, and be a blessing. 

~ "A little that a righteous man has

      is better than the riches of many wicked" ~

Psalm 37:16

~