Thursday, January 09, 2014

I'm Just NOT Sayin'

I have a really easy recipe for chili.

Like, super easy.

As in, the only "cooking" required is the browning of the ground beef. (Or ground venison, as the case may be in a home where two boys each got a deer this season. *smile*) Everything else is just opening cans and dumping the contents into the Crock Pot.
Oh, and one envelope. You have to open one envelope of chili seasoning and add that to the mix. Which should really just go without saying, because if you're making chili - of course you're going to add chili seasoning. I'm just sayin'.

So, one day over Christmas vacation I asked Joshua to put the chili together in the Crock Pot for dinner that night. He is beginning to get comfortable in the kitchen and I really had no doubts he could handle this assignment. I put all the cans and the seasoning on the counter and pointed out the location of the venison in the fridge. Figured he was good to go. And I confidently walked out the door to go to work.
When I walked back in the door late that afternoon, I was pleased to see the Crock Pot full and turned on. But then I saw something else which didn't please me.
The envelope of chili seasoning was still sitting on the counter. And I thought, Josh, seriously? You didn't put the seasoning in the chili?
I added it myself. And planned to point out the oversight to my son when he got home. It would be important for him to realize the need to pay attention to detail, don't you think? I mean, imagine what would have happened if I hadn't rescued the recipe! We would have suffered though eating a bland meal, and Joshua would have been so embarrassed at his cooking flop.
Clearly, I needed to point out the error of his ways. Right?

Because HE is so gracious, God worked it out that Joshua was delayed in getting home. And that gave me time to think about what I was going to say.
The more I considered my words, the more I realized something I hadn't thought of before. There really was no good reason for me to point out to Joshua that he'd forgotten to add the seasoning. He had done so many things right: browning the meat; rinsing the kidney beans; adding all the other ingredients; plugging in the Crock Pot; cleaning up the kitchen.
Forgetting the seasoning really wasn't a catastrophe.
It was an easy fix.
Sooooooo, when I considered those thoughts - coupled with the recollection of how I feel when a certain someone in my life points out the things I forget - I concluded there was no value in me telling Joshua about his oversight.
I would thank him for what he did. But when it came to the forgotten seasoning?
I decided, I'm just NOT sayin'!

Karen

3 comments:

Kaira said...

Love!

I also love that you found a good crock pot recipe!

I also love Josh.

And you.

And chili!

But NOT the Megabus. :P

Karen Hossink said...

Kaira - I love you, too!
AND the Megabus...when it works. ;)

Kaira said...

Okay, fine... I love it when it works too. However, I will probably never say that I love their customer service department! ;)