On Saturday, we had a bit of drama with a pot full of chili. I am sure some of you read about it. After getting rid of the smell, and re-gathering the ingredients (I only had to repurchase the tomatoes), I began again. The new pot came together pretty quickly and simmered away on the stove. It smelled great! Well, I guess just about anything would smell great after the last pot. 🙂
I returned the spoiled cans of beans to the store, and they graciously refunded my money for the spoiled beans and all of the wasted ingredients that were in the pot of chili. Great customer service!
I cooled the chili, and put it in the refrigerator to be used on Sunday evening. Then, we planned our Sunday. 8:00 am, our daughter assists in the children’s ministry, 11:00 am, we all go to church, 4:00 pm, be back at church for an open house, and 6:00 arrive at the event I was making the chili for. Busy day…full of good things. 🙂
So, we go back and forth, do we bring the chili to the church at 4:00 pm and then leave for the other event at 5:30? Or, do we leave it at home and come back for it at 5:15 pm and THEN go to the other event? Decisions, decisions. I thought we had decided one way and my husband thought another…finally, on the same page, we went back in the house before leaving for church and got the, now hot, chili in the crock pot. We put it in a box with heavy towels over it and cleared a space in the trunk of our mini van and we drove off, carefully. Of course, I felt the need to say, slow down…don’t forget we have chili in the trunk, about 10 times…within the two-mile drive to church.
As planned, we left church at 5:30 to get to our next celebration. We arrived about 6:10, a little behind schedule, since I again felt the need to give a few (about 25) reminders to “remember the chili”. When we got there, the ceremony had begun. We added our chili to the other 8, yes…8, crock pots of chili that had arrived before ours.
At the end of the evening, we approached the table to get our crock pot…expecting it to be at least partially empty. But it was COMPLETELY full. Not even one spoon full had been eaten. 🙂 I had to smile. So, my sweet husband loaded the still hot chili back into the box, and back into the van and covered it with the same towels for its ride home. This chili had almost taken on a personality it had been through so much with us. 🙂 We began our drive home…and, of course I again felt the need to remind my husband, “remember our chili” as if somehow he could forget it now. It made its way home and is now safely in our fridge. Again.
This story will make me smile for weeks to come. It was a good lesson about trusting the Lord in the little things. He knows our desire to honor our friends by bringing something to their celebration. He knows our desire to please Him. He knows I enjoy cooking. He knows the hostess doesn’t even realize that we left with a full pot of chili. So, even though, there it sits in our refrigerator, we still accomplished our desires. Our friends had all they needed to serve everyone at their celebration. We were able to bless them, by bringing something. They had the peace of mind to know that they had enough.
With this in mind, we are so grateful to serve a God who give us perspective. The chili was never the issue. The issue is where we place our trust. He is regularly reminding us that He is trustworthy. There are many things to trust Him for in this life. Right now, we are in the midst of some very large opportunities to trust Him. And, He is always faithful. May these small things, be reminders of that faithfulness so that when the big things come, we will trust Him as well. He turns us to Himself, the One who is completely trustworthy. He is so kind to us.
