I like to cook, create good healthy food, and have some fun with it at the same time. Sometimes I’ll find a recipe that appeals to me, and decide to try making it. Occasionally I miss a step and it doesn’t turn out the way I thought it would. Sometimes I might not have the exact ingredients so I’ll substitute what I think will work — it doesn’t always.
Recently Ross and I had a discussion about this topic, in relation to one of our kitchen machines. He uses it and then despite it having a specific cleaning program proceeds to do a series of steps to clean it. Which wasn’t working, hence the conversation. I asked why would you not use the actual cleaning program — which works — rather than try to reinvent your own version.
But this type of situation is played out in our lives frequently I believe. I know I do it with a recipe I’ve been making for yonks, and then wonder why it doesn’t work out the way it should. Duh! So I go back to the original recipe and follow that to the letter — and surprise — it works. And not only with cooking, but I also crochet and often find myself having to go back to the pattern to reread and work out where I’ve gone wrong by making it up as I go along. Fairly basic I know, but I often get lost along the way and make it up — which doesn’t always work out.
In relationships, there are some basic “rules” which need to be followed, but we circumvent them all the time. I like to think that I follow these rules, but I also know that often I don’t. I get busy, caught up in my own little world, and forget to contact people. My aim is to be a good friend, yet I often don’t call or wait until they call me. I have a list of the people I want to get in touch with this year, yet it is almost a quarter of the way through the year and I still haven’t done it. I start off with the best of intentions, then let myself and others down along the way because I got busy. Poor excuse when it comes to friendships. I ask myself if this is how I’d like to be treated. I’d like to think that I treat others as I’d like to be treated, yet I continually fall by the wayside in my efforts.
So this week I’ve got some phone calls to make, promises to myself that I really need to keep. And it’s not about me feeling righteous when I’ve made those calls — I think it’s about being a better friend, which is ultimately what I’m aiming for. So where in your life do you alter the recipe? Where do you make excuses for your lack of attention as I do? I’ve got some really great excuses, but they really don’t stand up to scrutiny, unfortunately. I am fortunate or blessed to have some awesome friendships and I need to cultivate them because I will lose them if I don’t.