Domestic Skills and Reading Recipes

 

Last week, I had the opportunity to cook for my family twice. One recipe turned out quite successful, the other one did...not. Well, it did with the help of some maternal intervention. The first thing, some Brazilian cheese bread that is supposed to be for sandwiches (we ate it with our soup like pull apart bread), turned out delicious! I did exactly what the box said, and it all went smoothly. The second dish, a spinach and ham quiche, was almost a disaster. I did not properly read the recipe and almost made a nasty pie. Mom came and checked on it when I put it in the oven and fixed, though.

The recipe called for cream, but we didn't have any, so I just ignored that part. It also said to chop the spinach, which I didn't do. Mom then reminded me, that if I take something out of a recipe, I have to put something else in as a replacement, which in this case would be milk.

I think we as Christians do this sometimes. We will follow the plan God has set out for us, and everything will turn out great. Then we get prideful and say "God, do you see how well I handled that situation? I think I did pretty good, yeah? I don't need Your help this time, okay. Go take care of someone else." And we end up misreading the instructions (the Bible) and making one big mess. And then God steps in and reminds us that we need to read the instructions very carefully and do exactly what they say.

A recipe isn't there to keep you from having fun in the kitchen, is it? No, it gives you guidance on how to make (hopefully) delicious and healthy food that you can enjoy.  The same goes for God's Law. It is not to keep you from having free reign to do whatever you choose. It is there to help us along so that we may get the most out of this life and the next.

We all misread instructions from time to time, but God is good about watching His children and steering them back in the right direction.

Learning to read it all the first time,
Emily E.