Previous Challenge Entry
Topic: Directions (02/02/04)
TITLE: Do We Follow Directions? By Linda Ryzenga 02/08/04 |
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“Oh Debbie”, I moaned, as I pulled the oven door ajar and viewed
a complete mess. My nine year old daughter had decided to try her hand at baking gingerbread. The problem was that the gingerbread had started to rise before it was even half baked, and as I painfully watched, the batter was flowing over the edge of the pan and had began creeping over the entire bottom of my oven. The oven racks were caked with the gooey substance.
My temper might have been contained had it not been for the fact that the previous day, I had labored for 2 hours cleaning that same oven. Of course, this was prior to the days of self-cleaning ovens!
When I finally gained control of my sanity, we retrieved the recipe Debbie had used, looking at the ingredients, I asked, “This calls for two teaspoons, is that the amount of baking soda you used?”
“This is the teaspoon isn't it, Mom?”, She said as she held up the tablespoon.
“Oh no Deb, no wonder my oven's a disaster! You put in two tablespoons of baking soda. You should have asked me if you weren't sure about it. It's very important that you follow
directions correctly when you are baking.”
How often I am reminded of that little episode. It's quite
humorous now, but at the time it was a calamity.
There's another recipe book that comes to mind, and that's the Bible. How often do we read it, only to fail in our attempts to follow God's directions. Maybe instead of baking soda, jealousy or anger is the wrong ingredient. Jealousy of a co-worker, or angry words spoken to a friend.
It sometimes takes several trials to bake a successful batch of gingerbread, much the same way as we master the ability to follow God's directions. But once we follow directions successfully, the result is supreme.
Do We Follow Directions?
“Oh Debbie”, I moaned, as I pulled the oven door ajar and viewed
a complete mess. My nine year old daughter had decided to try her hand at baking gingerbread. The problem was that the gingerbread had started to rise before it was even half baked, and as I painfully watched, the batter was flowing over the edge of the pan and had began creeping over the entire bottom of my oven. The oven racks were caked with the gooey substance.
My temper might have been contained had it not been for the fact that the previous day, I had labored for 2 hours cleaning that same oven. Of course, this was prior to the days of self-cleaning ovens!
When I finally gained control of my sanity, we retrieved the recipe Debbie had used, looking at the ingredients, I asked, “This calls for two teaspoons, is that the amount of baking soda you used?”
“This is the teaspoon isn't it, Mom?”, She said as she held up the tablespoon.
“Oh no Deb, no wonder my oven's a disaster! You put in two tablespoons of baking soda. You should have asked me if you weren't sure about it. It's very important that you follow
directions correctly when you are baking.”
How often I am reminded of that little episode. It's quite
humorous now, but at the time it was a calamity.
There's another recipe book that comes to mind, and that's the Bible. How often do we read it, only to fail in our attempts to follow God's directions. Maybe instead of baking soda, jealousy or anger is the wrong ingredient. Jealousy of a co-worker, or angry words spoken to a friend.
It sometimes takes several trials to bake a successful batch of gingerbread, much the same way as we master the ability to follow God's directions. But once we follow directions successfully, the result is supreme.
Do We Follow Directions?
“Oh Debbie”, I moaned, as I pulled the oven door ajar and viewed
a complete mess. My nine year old daughter had decided to try her hand at baking gingerbread. The problem was that the gingerbread had started to rise before it was even half baked, and as I painfully watched, the batter was flowing over the edge of the pan and had began creeping over the entire bottom of my oven. The oven racks were caked with the gooey substance.
My temper might have been contained had it not been for the fact that the previous day, I had labored for 2 hours cleaning that same oven. Of course, this was prior to the days of self-cleaning ovens!
When I finally gained control of my sanity, we retrieved the recipe Debbie had used, looking at the ingredients, I asked, “This calls for two teaspoons, is that the amount of baking soda you used?”
“This is the teaspoon isn't it, Mom?”, She said as she held up the tablespoon.
“Oh no Deb, no wonder my oven's a disaster! You put in two tablespoons of baking soda. You should have asked me if you weren't sure about it. It's very important that you follow
directions correctly when you are baking.”
How often I am reminded of that little episode. It's quite
humorous now, but at the time it was a calamity.
There's another recipe book that comes to mind, and that's the Bible. How often do we read it, only to fail in our attempts to follow God's directions. Maybe instead of baking soda, jealousy or anger is the wrong ingredient. Jealousy of a co-worker, or angry words spoken to a friend.
It sometimes takes several trials to bake a successful batch of gingerbread, much the same way as we master the ability to follow God's directions. But once we follow directions successfully, the result is supreme.
Do We Follow Directions?
“Oh Debbie”, I moaned, as I pulled the oven door ajar and viewed
a complete mess. My nine year old daughter had decided to try her hand at baking gingerbread. The problem was that the gingerbread had started to rise before it was even half baked, and as I painfully watched, the batter was flowing over the edge of the pan and had began creeping over the entire bottom of my oven. The oven racks were caked with the gooey substance.
My temper might have been contained had it not been for the fact that the previous day, I had labored for 2 hours cleaning that same oven. Of course, this was prior to the days of self-cleaning ovens!
When I finally gained control of my sanity, we retrieved the recipe Debbie had used, looking at the ingredients, I asked, “This calls for two teaspoons, is that the amount of baking soda you used?”
“This is the teaspoon isn't it, Mom?”, She said as she held up the tablespoon.
“Oh no Deb, no wonder my oven's a disaster! You put in two tablespoons of baking soda. You should have asked me if you weren't sure about it. It's very important that you follow
directions correctly when you are baking.”
How often I am reminded of that little episode. It's quite
humorous now, but at the time it was a calamity.
There's another recipe book that comes to mind, and that's the Bible. How often do we read it, only to fail in our attempts to follow God's directions. Maybe instead of baking soda, jealousy or anger is the wrong ingredient. Jealousy of a co-worker, or angry words spoken to a friend.
It sometimes takes several trials to bake a successful batch of gingerbread, much the same way as we master the ability to follow God's directions. But once we follow directions successfully, the result is supreme.
Do We Follow Directions?
“Oh Debbie”, I moaned, as I pulled the oven door ajar and viewed
a complete mess. My nine year old daughter had decided to try her hand at baking gingerbread. The problem was that the gingerbread had started to rise before it was even half baked, and as I painfully watched, the batter was flowing over the edge of the pan and had began creeping over the entire bottom of my oven. The oven racks were caked with the gooey substance.
My temper might have been contained had it not been for the fact that the previous day, I had labored for 2 hours cleaning that same oven. Of course, this was prior to the days of self-cleaning ovens!
When I finally gained control of my sanity, we retrieved the recipe Debbie had used, looking at the ingredients, I asked, “This calls for two teaspoons, is that the amount of baking soda you used?”
“This is the teaspoon isn't it, Mom?”, She said as she held up the tablespoon.
“Oh no Deb, no wonder my oven's a disaster! You put in two tablespoons of baking soda. You should have asked me if you weren't sure about it. It's very important that you follow
directions correctly when you are baking.”
How often I am reminded of that little episode. It's quite
humorous now, but at the time it was a calamity.
There's another recipe book that comes to mind, and that's the Bible. How often do we read it, only to fail in our attempts to follow God's directions. Maybe instead of baking soda, jealousy or anger is the wrong ingredient. Jealousy of a co-worker, or angry words spoken to a friend.
It sometimes takes several trials to bake a successful batch of gingerbread, much the same way as we master the ability to follow God's directions. But once we follow directions successfully, the result is supreme.
Do We Follow Directions?
“Oh Debbie”, I moaned, as I pulled the oven door ajar and viewed
a complete mess. My nine year old daughter had decided to try her hand at baking gingerbread. The problem was that the gingerbread had started to rise before it was even half baked, and as I painfully watched, the batter was flowing over the edge of the pan and had began creeping over the entire bottom of my oven. The oven racks were caked with the gooey substance.
My temper might have been contained had it not been for the fact that the previous day, I had labored for 2 hours cleaning that same oven. Of course, this was prior to the days of self-cleaning ovens!
When I finally gained control of my sanity, we retrieved the recipe Debbie had used, looking at the ingredients, I asked, “This calls for two teaspoons, is that the amount of baking soda you used?”
“This is the teaspoon isn't it, Mom?”, She said as she held up the tablespoon.
“Oh no Deb, no wonder my oven's a disaster! You put in two tablespoons of baking soda. You should have asked me if you weren't sure about it. It's very important that you follow
directions correctly when you are baking.”
How often I am reminded of that little episode. It's quite
humorous now, but at the time it was a calamity.
There's another recipe book that comes to mind, and that's the Bible. How often do we read it, only to fail in our attempts to follow God's directions. Maybe instead of baking soda, jealousy or anger is the wrong ingredient. Jealousy of a co-worker, or angry words spoken to a friend.
It sometimes takes several trials to bake a successful batch of gingerbread, much the same way as we master the ability to follow God's directions. But once we follow directions successfully, the result is supreme.
Do We Follow Directions?
“Oh Debbie”, I moaned, as I pulled the oven door ajar and viewed
a complete mess. My nine year old daughter had decided to try her hand at baking gingerbread. The problem was that the gingerbread had started to rise before it was even half baked, and as I painfully watched, the batter was flowing over the edge of the pan and had began creeping over the entire bottom of my oven. The oven racks were caked with the gooey substance.
My temper might have been contained had it not been for the fact that the previous day, I had labored for 2 hours cleaning that same oven. Of course, this was prior to the days of self-cleaning ovens!
When I finally gained control of my sanity, we retrieved the recipe Debbie had used, looking at the ingredients, I asked, “This calls for two teaspoons, is that the amount of baking soda you used?"
“This is the teaspoon isn't it, Mom?”, She said as she held up the tablespoon.
“Oh no Deb, no wonder my oven's a disaster! You put in two tablespoons of baking soda. You should have asked me if you weren't sure about it. It's very important that you follow
directions correctly when you are baking.”
How often I am reminded of that little episode. It's quite humorous now, but at that time it was a calamity.
There's another recipe book that comes to mind, and that's the Bible. How often do we read it, only to fail in our attempts to follow God's directions. Maybe instead of baking soda, jealousy or anger is the wrong ingredient. Jealousy of a co-worker, or angry words spoken to a friend.
It sometimes takes several trials to bake a successful batch of gingerbread, much the same way as we master the ability to follow God's directions. But once we follow directions successfully, the result is supreme.