Beefing it up

When I was a kid, we would travel to Canada to my grandparent’s home for Christmas. When we arrived, we would sit down to a roast beef dinner that my Grandma had lovingly prepared in anticipation of our visit. I can vividly remember how dry the roast was, and how much gravy it required.

I grew up believing that Grandma overcooked beef. As a matter of fact, it was sort of a joke with me when I cooked something too long, I would make some remark about how it resembled my Grandma’s roasts.

It wasn’t until I became an adult and I was driving to Canada myself one trip, that I realized how off schedule I was. In order to get there by car, I drive through Syracuse and Buffalo – both of which are famous for snow – and I was almost 2 hours later arriving than I had promised.

Hmmm. I applied this new knowledge to my childhood trips and realized that, no, my Grandmother did not enjoy leathered food, but she had been readying the supper for the time we claimed we’d arrive. I can almost hear her contemplating the problem, “Well, if they actually do make it on time, they’ll be hungry as bears….”

In truth, her overcooked roast was MY fault all those years, not her error in cooking judgment. I had it way out of context.

This may be a stretch for you, but that little piece of learning has helped me so much relationally. When I am ready to “decide” about a person or a situation, especially when someone behaves like leathered beef, God helps me remember that I probably do not see a complete picture. I simply do not have all the information and, admittedly, my understanding is all too limited by my own point of view.

Life requires a lot of gravy. Love anyway.