Title
The Food Flingers
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611

The Food Flingers

The munchkins got to practice some skills in the kitchen.  They proved that they are both good at one thing in particular…

Squirmy fixed up some nice oven baked honey mustard ham sliders.  He went a little overboard with the mayonnaise, because he really likes mayonnaise, but other than that they turned out well.

Tadpole fixed up some cheesy scrambled eggs and honey toast.  She successfully managed the hot stove and didn’t burn herself or the eggs.  Which is a feat that I cannot even claim most of the time!

They were so very proud of their achievements!  When I came home from work Squirmy was insistent that I not look into the kitchen, because he wanted it all to be a surprise.  Tadpole actually made Squirmy wear a blindfold when he came to the table so he wouldn’t see what culinary wonders she had prepared.

They were so excited about what they had done!  But really, they didn’t do anything spectacular.  The menu was extremely simplistic.  The cook on the food wasn’t exactly as it should have been.  The mixture of ingredients was a little off.  They certainly wouldn’t have won any awards at a competition.

Besides all that – they made a mess of things!  The floor and counter looked like a disaster zone.  You could tell that an untrained chef had been in the kitchen.  It seemed that half of the food made it on the floor instead of on the plate.

Kids always seem to be a sticky mess!  They have the ability to destroy just about everything they touch!  If children are good at one thing, it’s creating chaos.  They may color a beautiful picture for you, but if you take a close look at where they were coloring, you find crayon marks all over the place.  How do they “accidentally” color on the desk, floor, and walls?

If I spent all of my time focusing on the mess, I would be consistently disappointed with my children.  All I would ever see is the wreckage they have left behind.  I must choose to place my focus on more important things.  I must sit down at the table and focus on how hard my children worked on the meal, without staring at the mess in the kitchen.  I must praise my children on their accomplishments and gently help them clean up the mess while I lead them towards proper habits.

. . .

Have you ever had the thought that someone else could serve God better than you can?  “Why, I could never be as good as them!  I will just make a mess of things.  I will just make a fool of myself.  God will just need to get someone more talented than I to do this.  Since I can’t do it as well as someone else could, there is no point in even trying.”

I am so grateful that God does not focus on my failures.  Yes, when I serve Him I often make a mess of things.  More often than not I say things I shouldn’t, or do things with the wrong attitude.  I am so thankful that God does not place all of His time focusing on my mistakes.  He is grateful for what I have accomplished and then helps me clean up my mess.  All the while He shows forth gentleness, meekness, and patience with me!

May we learn to do the same with others.  May we allow others to make mistakes.  To make a mess of things sometimes.  Yes, it is a pain cleaning up the mess.  Yes, we might have been able to do better ourselves.  But, look at what they have learned – look at what they have accomplished!

gentleness

Do you ever struggle keeping your focus on the accomplishments and not on the mess?  How do you think that affects those we are helping?  How important do feel it is to allow others to make mistakes?  Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

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