Old Recipes
Old Recipes
Everyone has them. Staple recipes that your family has been using for as long as you can remember. The recipes that create food that is home; it might be a special barbeque rub, homemade macaroni and cheese, or a special salad. The recipe that feels like home and that should be left alone.
One of the staple recipes at our house is “Granny’s chicken salad”. As long as I have been around the Hughes family, “Granny’s” chicken salad has been at nearly every family gathering, road trip, or vacation. There is nothing more refreshing than scooping a Ritz cracker into that cool, sweet, delicious mixture after spending the day in the hot sun.
At one point, early in our marriage, I tried convincing Jayde to use another recipe when we were missing one of the ingredients. Instead she took a trip to the store and got the ingredients for the proper recipe. I thought it silly in the moment that she wouldn’t try something new, however, I fought tooth-and-nail and would not budge that rice and gravy were THE side that accompanies any variation of a fried steak.
Staple recipes and steady routines are undeniably valuable for bringing stability to our lives that are often surrounded by chaos. But when our entire life is directed by routine that we do not waver from, we may find ourselves in an unproductive rut. Change is the vehicle that brings growth, but change is inherently uncomfortable. God told Abraham:
“Get out of your country, From your family And from your father’s house, To a land that I will show you” (Gen. 12:1)
There was no promise of comfort, no guarantee of safety, but he did give a promise of blessing. God has always called his people to follow him into areas of unknown, where we receive new blessings. The same goes for our lives; there will be no growth, no new blessings found within confines of our comfort zones. Christians are often frustrated by the lack of growth they experience in the church or their own lives. When we choose to obey Christ and “go into the world and make disciples” (Mt. 28:18) we will find not only our lives enriched, but that we will be surrounded by God’s church growing around us, as a result of following him into the unknown.
I Love You,
Jonathan Long