It had been a gray, rainy day — one that lent itself nicely to a cozy soup dinner. Looking around the pantry, I had enough ingredients to make vegetable soup. I’ve been making this particular soup for more than fifteen years, and before that, it was the same recipe that my mother used to make her vegetable soup. Being familiar with this recipe for roughly thirty-five years, I opted not even to open the cookbook. Dicing and slicing the vegetables without a measuring cup in sight, I threw them into the base of the soup. After adding a hodge-podge collection of spices, I left the kitchen leaving the soup to simmer.
An hour and a half later, the stench was unmistakable. Our entire house smelled like burnt vegetables. Opening the lid, I waved my hand over it trying to clear the thick steam. Looking into the pot, I was shocked to find that there was absolutely no broth left and the vegetables burnt to the bottom of the pan.
I burnt the soup!
Here’s the warning text I sent to Jason:
I couldn’t believe that I burnt the soup. As I was scraping the charred vegetables into the trash can, I replayed the events, trying to figure out what had gone wrong. Ultimately what happened was I grew too comfortable with cooking. Assuming after all the years of making this soup, I could do everything properly without consulting the official recipe. Preparing it on auto-pilot did not bode well because instead of turning down the burner to low to allow the soup to simmer, I left the heat on high and burned the entire batch. It took about twenty minutes of heavy scrubbing to get the pot clean enough to wash. However, my poor pan is still showing evidence of the mistake.
That whole experience made me think about marriage.
After years and years of marriage, I tend to feel confident about my role and responsibilities. I’m familiar enough with the routine to know what it takes to make a good marriage. The problem comes in when I’m so confident in my ability to be a “good wife” that I forget to consult the offical recipe. God so graciously provides us with the step-by-step guide on how to create a successful marriage. His Word is our absolute truth. When our marriages follow His recipe they will yield satisfying and desirable results.
However, when I grow too comfortable or assume I know all the steps, that’s when I will make a mistake. If I’m journeying through life on auto-pilot, and not paying close attention to my actions, then at some point I’m going to get burned. I don’t want to make a costly mistake in my marriage. I don’t want to find myself scraping out the remains of a mistake I made because I didn’t carefully follow the instructions.
How are your actions as a wife compare with God’s recipe?
darby dugger
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