Do You Follow A Recipe?

Bruce took a bite and said, “This tastes nice, different to mine, but nice.” He asked me what I did.

Let’s retrace our steps a few months. Bruce was Bachelor-ing (if there is such a word.) He decided to cook for himself, which he has not often done over the years, mainly due to lack of time. Now it was a necessity if he did not want to get take-away every night. Bruce had also decided he wanted to eat healthy, hence the cooking himself. He looked on the internet at some recipes from a few different websites and chose three involving chicken and one with mince. He had also just recently heard an actor talk about how he had lost so much weight for a particular role in a movie by just eating chicken.

When I met up with Bruce a few weeks later he cooked some of these dishes for me. He was very proud of himself. And so he should be. Whenever any of us achieve something new in our lives, no matter our age, we should express this.

Anyway, the other day Bruce asked me to cook one of these chicken dishes. I said, “No problem. Send me the recipe.” Hence the taste testing with the first bite by Bruce and then asking what did I do? It tasted a bit different.

I then described to him what I had done. “I just followed the recipe……Then I added 1 tablespoon of soy sauce, 2 tablespoons of honey, salt, pepper………”

Bruce interrupted my litany of ingredients.

“How did you know it was 1 tablespoon?”

“I read the instructions. Why, did you not do that?” I replied.

“Ah no, I just watched the video. They were just adding in all this stuff, so I did the same.”

I burst out laughing. I showed Bruce on the video where the instructions were. I also now realised why sometimes the dish he cooked was very salty and other times very sweet. It depended which ingredient he put more into the sauce, which way it was going to go.

Do we follow instructions, even if they are right there in front of us? Or do we ad-hoc try it all by ourselves. Now in cooking, many inventions and delicious dishes have been made doing this but often the instructions are there so disaster does not occur.

In the book of Psalms it states:

“I will instruct you and teach you the way you should go.

I will counsel you with my eye upon you.”

Psalm 32:8

This is for our benefit. So we don’t end up living a life full of disasters.

Love your fellow man.

Forgive.

Serve and give of yourself.

Do not judge.

And through it all Our Loving God, who IS NOT a despotic judge, but a merciful Father will keep an eye of protection upon us. Will guide us, if our pride does not get in the way.

Bruce and I both had a good laugh together. When he suggests if we could have that chicken dish for dinner tonight, I tease him and say your way or mine?

May these jottings from my journal inspire you to believe in and fall in love with Christ- the hope of the world, as stated in Jeremiah 17:7, ‘Blessed is the man who believes and trusts in and relies on the Lord and whose hope and confident expectation is the Lord!’

Love

Rosemary

Every week groups of ladies meet together to chat about the things I raise in my weekly blog post and to chat about life in general. We call these ‘Heart Connect’ groups. If you would like more information please click HERE.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

Are you living your life ad-hoc without reference to the guidance God provides?

What could you do to read the Bible more so that you are directed by God’s love?

How could you begin to implement some of the instructions that God gives for our lives? Eg. Love your enemy, do not judge others…