While Cooking…

I sent my brother on an errand for lump crab meat and apple cider. I was making a brine for the pork roast I wanted either my husband or my brother to smoke for me the next day. I was also making a seafood Mac and cheese! 🔥

Well, when I went to make the brine for the pork roast, I realized my brother got me apple cider vinegar instead of apple cider and he got me imitation crab instead of real lump crab meat. What???!!!

In the back of my mind, I thought I better be more specific; but I figured my brother, with his college years spent in Baton Rouge, knows to get REAL crab meat. Additionally, because I didn’t put vinegar on the end, he should know it was the drink! WELL……

I didn’t follow my first mind and consequently, I had to come up with an alternative for the imitation crab meat; because I figured in the midst of COVID-19, taking it back was probably not an option.

I decided to make a crab salad. I had the ingredients and with family coming over for Mother’s Day, it made a great addition to the menu!

How will you respond when you don’t get what you want? I could have responded with anger, disgust, ranting and raving. And truthfully, I did respond with questioning and a little bit of disgust. 😊 My brother, in his laid back, nonchalant way said, “You didn’t say real crab and I thought you meant vinegar. I asked the lady where the crab was and she directed me to all they had. My heart was right though.”

And you know what, his heart was right! He was doing me a favor because I was working. He went with a great attitude and even stopped what he was doing to get it for me! So, I had to check my heart and my response. I decided to play the hand that was dealt to me!

Situations will not always turn out the way we want, but we can choose to respond in a way that keeps our blood pressure down and our joy up! When you do, the Lord will lay on our heart and mind a new way to play the hand that dealt to us! We must keep Ephesians 4:31-32 in our hearts and act accordingly:

“Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.”

I have to be mindful of and work on this daily. I have to work hard to respond in loving ways when things don’t go according to my plan. Because truthfully, I will forget or need something from the store again. I will probably ask my brother to go to the store again before he leaves to go back home. So I better not burn the bridge! 😉 I had everything I needed to make this turn out good even though it wasn’t part of the original plan. Oooo, that is another sermon!

So when “life” delivers you imitation crab meat, don’t get angry! Instead, make a crab salad!

A Seasoned Word for Your Soul