Dinner and Dessert

Background: Its Sunday. We’re driving home discussing what we should have for dinner. My son asks for me to make a dessert that my family loves. So we go to the grocery store pick up dinner and ingredients for dessert.

You may be wondering what we had for dinner and dessert. We had lasagna for dinner and apple pear crisp for dessert. The lasagna came straight out the box. But the apple pear crisp was handcrafted by me. When my family sat down at the dinner table, everyone was pleased with the meal, and I wasn’t exhausted from making them a decent meal. Sometimes its good to  take a shortcut and only focus your efforts on what you are really good at.

Proverbs 31:22 – She makes her own bedspreads.  She dresses in fine linen and purple gowns.

If you go back and look at the materials that the P31 uses, you’ll find flax, wool, and linen. The scripture says she makes the bedspreads and wears the fine linen and purple. I’m lead to believe that she buys the dresses and gowns. For a woman so busy managing a household, a business, land and marriage, I’d like to have the luxury of buying myself a few nice things as well. Could she have made herself the dresses and gowns? Probably, but if she’s anything like me, the really nice things you buy are prepared by someone else.

Whether it’s dinner, your clothing, or your hair, there are things that you can do your self and there are things you should just buy if you can. You get similar results with less stress on yourself and more time on your hands. This is how we maximize our time and energy to manage all the irons we have in the fire. We are only one person, with the responsibility of nurturing a group of people, while maintaining ourselves. We must find products and strategies that make life easy and enjoyable for the whole family.

I heard a great woman say this in regards to children, they will remember two things, whether you were there or whether you weren’t there. Meeting the basic and material needs of your family is necessary, but nurturing their emotions and confidence takes time spent with you. Figure out the best areas to take shortcuts in your life. For me, its in the kitchen, for some families that just won’t do. But find what substitutes your family can handle and put them in place, so that your family can enjoy a more rested you.

Reference: Proverbs 31:22