Getting Out of My Box

I love to cook. When Mike and I first got married, and well for much of the time that the kids were growing up, I stuck to the tried and true recipes that I knew how to fix. Rarely did my kids get anything new. At times, while Mike was in college and just starting in the workforce, our limited fare was due to economics. Making a huge pan of macaroni and cheese, then livening it up with a pound of hamburger meat was a cheap way to feed a 14 year old that had an bottomless stomach.

But even as our salaries allowed us to spend more at the grocery store, I was still leery about trying new recipes. Why should I? There still things that my kids loved that were easy to make, and besides...I hadn't even mastered the easy stuff yet. I was probably the only southern woman in the county who made gravy the dog wouldn't eat, and had never made a dumpling in her life. My biscuits came from a can or a box of mix; my fried potatoes came out a mushy, greasy mess; and when Mom would have pity on my family and send over an "extra" pie crust because she baked too many: meringue simply refused to stand in stiff peeks on top of the lemon filling.

As my kids grew up and began to drive, their friends expanded to those outside our small circle of church friends and neighbors. One day when Kristen was bringing friends home to spend the weekend she asked what we were having for dinner. I don't to this day remember what it was, but I do remember she turned her nose up and asked; "Can't we have something more grown up?"
Not wanting to embarrass my children, I quickly scanned the contents of the refrigerator and pantry; then grabbed a cookbook off the shelf and blew the dust from it. That afternoon when the girls came dragging in from softball practice; I was pulling my first attempt at Baked & Stuffed Cannelloni from the oven.

That was the beginning of my love affair with my kitchen & cookbooks. I quickly became addicted to the food channel. I started experimenting with spices, rubs and marinades. I learned how to inject a turkey and slow roast it until carving it was pointless, since it falls off the bone when you touch it. I discovered that banana pudding does not always come from a box, that corn is better frozen than canned, and that homemade spaghetti sauce is not named Ragu or Prego.

Hundreds of new recipes have been baked, fried, broiled and grilled. It's fun to watch my husband and kids (and the extras who are now regulars) as they try something new for the first time. Second helpings are a generally a sign that the dish can be made again. Occasionally; like my first attempt at making fried rice at home; they will tell me it's ok, but needs more work. Sometimes, they even offer their two cents: "Could you make this again, but use chicken instead of cheese?" And of course, there's always those that Mike simply says "Don't make that again".

I sometimes wonder what would have happened if I'd never stepped out of my comfort zone to try that first new dish. Most likely, I would still be confined to frozen dinners, canned soups and boxed cake mixes. Gravy would still be out of my reach, fried potatoes wouldn't be Mike's favorite food, and the family wouldn't have had lemon meringue pie for Christmas dinner. Chicken and Dumplings...well let's just say I'm still learning!

Just like in cooking, our spiritual life requires us to step out of our comfort zone in order to grow and mature past the simple and mundane. But the first thing we need to do is figure out what our comfort zone is. What's comfortable for you, may be terrifying for me. It's not a big red circle with yellow lines running through it and me standing it in the middle. It simply isn't that well defined; though man do I wish it were! Romans 12:1 says:

Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship.

To me, this verse isn't just urging me to give up things that hinder my relationship with God. I believe that it commands me to sacrifice my comfort completely for Him. To step out of my comfort zone and into God's!

Does it require a huge step of faith? YES! But think of the possibilities and the opportunities!

Does it scare me to death? Absolutely! But, I simply have to remember that there is a whole lot that I'm capable of doing that I don't do...and God is very good at showing me what those things are!
"Be careful, then, how you live - not as un-wise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil." - Ephesians 5:15-16