Some of you may have read my post on Facebook about my most recent kitchen disaster. If so, bear with me while I give everybody else a recap of what happened. My husband, Andy, is organizing Friday night supper for a men's retreat this weekend. He has prepared chili...his famous "Andy's Disgustingly Hot Chili." Trying to be helpful, I offered to make cornbread muffins for the hungry men to enjoy. (Really, I was thinking they are going to need something to soak up all that heat!) I love Jiffy Mix cornbread! It's sweet-tasting and easy to make. So, I bought 12 boxes of the mix (each box only makes six muffins), a dozen egg, and a bottle of oil. I know, I know (now)...just hang with me here. In order to speed things along, I quadrupled each recipe and mixed four batches at a time. This is mainly because I have two muffin pans that each hold 12 muffins. I stirred up four boxes of mix, four eggs, and 1 1/3 cups of oil. You know, because each box called for one egg and 1/3 cup of oil. While the first quadruple batch was baking, I mixed up the second quadruple batch. I knew immediately when I pulled that first batch out of the oven that we had a problem. The paper liners were shiny with oil and the tops of the muffins were caved in slightly. Bravely, Andy sampled one and boldly told me what I already knew...they were nasty. So, in the trash they went. But, I already had the second batch mixed, so I stuck it in the oven as if something different would magically happen. While it was baking, I decided that mixing four batches at a time must have messed up the chemistry of the process. Determined to succeed, I mixed one box at a time and filled the muffin pans again. Anxiously I awaited the beeping of the oven timer. And once again the contents of the pans were dumped directly into the trash. Distraught, I turned to my Facebook friends with a picture and this story. I received lots of comfort and encouragement and then a dear friend pointed out the error of my ways. She said that HER box of Jiffy Mix calls for MILK, not oil!!!! Really?
Now for the lesson. Why did I mess up? Duh!! I thought I knew what I was doing and that I didn't need to read the directions. I put the wrong ingredients in my muffins because I thought I remembered from previous makings what they required. Don't we do that with God's directions? I do. Getting up in the morning and charging into the day without refreshing my memory by spending time in God's direction book, I stumble and fumble and mess things up. When I look back on the day, am I actually surprised that things didn't go well? Again, duh!! I always end up filling my day with better ingredients when I stop to read His directions for me first. But, just like the muffin mess, often I make the same mistakes day after day after day as if trying it one more time the same way will eventually get different results. Reading directions is not overrated...especially when the directions are God's.
