Well Done!

Our taste for particular foods is a conditioned response.  As children, we tend to eat as our parents do, or what they forced us to eat.  Case in point, my folks always cooked the vitamins out of vegetables, prepared meat well done, and got creative with leftovers. 

Have you ever smelled a bottle of vitamins?  By all means cook that unappetizing aroma of turnips and greens out of my veggies!  Is that why those and rutabagas are so ‘good for me'?  Hated them as a kid and intensely dislike them as an adult. 

Well done beef or pork is quite good if prepared and cooked properly, low and slow with minimal seasoning.  No need to turn them into a burnt offering.  It requires a bit of patience and planning, but melt in your mouth with no pink meat grilled to juicy perfection is an art. 

Being from the south where they fry butter, any vegetable, fruit, meat, or dessert, can be battered and dropped in hot oil.  Make it crunchy, and the kids will come.  Can't you just hear it…Johnny won't eat his grits, well fry them!  I draw the line at fried pickles though…yuck!

As an adult, I do prefer my beans or broccoli tender crisp and my steaks medium to medium-well.  The most laughs, or gags, occur with Cowboy/Cowgirl Stew.  Butterbeans with mayonnaise stirred in, and a biscuit crumbled over it, a creative leftover my Grandparents and my Momma used.  Hey, don't knock it ‘till you try it.  Five kids turning their noses up and whining over dried beans yet another day produced a need for some recipe ingenuity.  Since beans don't fry up very well, cream ‘em, name ‘em something different and the children have a hot lunch they enjoy.

Our leftovers in life are not always so easily repurposed, but using them for something unexpected is exciting.  How we choose to view them and incorporate them is specific to our call, our talents, and our gifts.  Sometimes it's leaving them behind or throwing them out to change directions, try a different recipe, or sing a new song.  How often have we held onto that last piece of something sweet only to later learn if we had given it up, we would have had something far more precious?  

Take my childhood memories for examples.  They qualify as leftovers.  I am an adult and cannot recapture those halcyon days of my youth where my biggest worry was falling out of a tree.  I can repurpose those memories into stories, poetry, or lyrics to bring glory to God.  He's called me to write, He's given me a ‘wee bit of talent for spinning a tale,' and those who know me well will concur, I have the gift of gab.  Mixing this together in a sweet offering to God is not just my goal, it’s my passion.  Learning and incorporating new knowledge to my walk keeps my eyes on Jesus.  Sharing these stories and insights with you applies His call, gift, and talent to me, for which I am most grateful.

He's not finished with me yet.  There's still His business to see to, His purpose to accomplish.  He stirs me up and pops me back on the fire of refinement.  He puts turnip greens in front of me and expects me to clean my plate.  Sometimes, He takes away something I hold dear.  His plans for me are so much bigger than any of my dreams, He replaces that lost with something pure and beautiful.  It's not always easy, and it's uncomfortable most of the time but I pray this leftover will one day hear, "Well done My child, welcome home."

"His Lord said to him, "Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things.  Enter into the joy of your Lord."  Mat 25:21 (NKJV)