Consider the egg

Sometimes having health and pain issues makes me feel as sensitive and fragile as an egg; I'm kind of vulnerable to the touch. I often hurt without even being touched, and maybe even feel enough pain to burst into tears and cry at a moments notice, but I usually don't.. because then my nose gets red, big and swollen, and I can't breath. It's pretty bad to be in pain... but, it's even worse to be in pain with a great big red nose, unable to breath. Why even Rudolph had a better situation in life than that! But, all joking aside, to understand a person suffering with health issues or pain, we might have to look to the egg.

Have you ever considered the egg? The egg is an awesome creation of God? It provides man with so many things; it is so versatile. It can be used as a stand-alone food item, and it can be cooked/prepared in so many different ways. This amazing oval delight offers good protein, substantive food value, is economical, and is pretty low in calories as long as it is not cooked in gobs of butter. The egg may have some limitations for folks on special diets... such as those with cholesterol issues, yet egg substitutes are readily available in egg-white renditions, making it a safe replacement for regular whole eggs. An egg is a... well... a good egg!

And have you ever realized that an egg is also a really great little team player. It's known for the way it assists other ingredients as it is mixed together with them. It can help hold a meat loaf together, provide shine to the crust of a pie, hold bread crumbs or flour on to a piece of chicken you are cooking, or an egg can even be separated (white from the yolk) to add into various dishes, a yoke to a pudding, a white to a meringue topping, or it can join forces with some milk and egg and turn ordinary bread into French Toast. An egg is definitely amazing!

Yes, the life of an egg is pretty productive. There are so many dishes you can make with an egg... well, just too numerous to count. But despite the egg's willingness to be a team player, and aside from the myriad of ways you can cook an egg, the amazing egg is subject to its main weakness: the egg has a frail exterior shell. A frail exterior doesn't mean the egg is weak, or that it should be avoided. No, in fact, quite the opposite. The egg is so valuable, maybe even more valuable than a huge list of other products... it just needs to be handled with care. It needs to be handled the way Jesus told us to treat others... He even went so far as to tell us that, "Whatsoever you(we) do to the least of my(His) children, that you do unto me(Jesus)." So it is clear, how we treat any of His weaker, smaller, less prominent children, the down, the desperate, the elderly... anyone worse-off, or experiencing hardship of any kind, we must treat as if we are treating the Lord, Himself. That is a pretty powerful admonition! Remember the EGG.

Yes, Jesus did tell us to love one another. But, we can get pretty forgetful of the importance of treating each other with that kind of tender care. Human nature takes over, and we get careless, foolish, and neglectful, and we begin to take each other for granted. Now, with baking, you cannot take an egg for granted. There are just certain things that you have to remember to do when it comes to working with eggs.

So when we realize that eggs need special care... this might be a good reminder that people do too, especially "hurting, and less healthy people". For sure we can all learn a valuable lesson from the incredible, edible egg. Special note here: Have a picture in your mind how the check-out person always mentions to each customer at the check-out counter: "Your eggs are in that small bag I placed in the child carrier of your cart." Even the check out person is trained to let you know to "Be careful".

OK, so handling eggs... we have a pretty solid handle on that aspect of the egg. Now baking has a set of instructions all its own when it comes to eggs. For instance, there's a lot to know about adding an egg to a recipe, because how you add eggs to a recipe can make or break your results. Because eggs take on so many different personalities (kinda'), wear so many different hats (sort of), have a multitude of uses, they have special instructions per use. The directions might state: use at room temperature, add separately, add slowly, or add to dry ingredients. A recipe might instruct you to beat, whip, or gently fold-in an egg. So, when you are baking or cooking, follow the recipe specifically, and you will get to enjoy all the benefits of the amazing egg. And as I examine those specific directions... I can see some great applications for how we can apply those instructions to our own personal lives... and learn from the egg.

Here's a little tip before starting, one that most experienced cooks already know, but to the less experienced cook, I suggest you crack the required eggs into a small, separate bowl before dropping the eggs into the larger recipe bowl with the other ingredients, just in case a shell falls into the bow. That way the shell can be easily removed without ruining the batter, should a shell fall in. There is a good point we can take from this cooking tip... when it comes to your relationship with others, it is always better to share things privately before you share them publicly and take the chance of hurting or embarrassing your loved one. Having a private conversation always allows the (shells) issues to be dealt with more easily. This establishes your concern for the other person, and always helps avoid hurt feelings in your relationship. You will be glad that you did NOT just dump everything into the mixture, and take the chance of ruining the entire relationship. Remember... we are trying to learn from the egg.

Now the dry ingredients would probably be the flour, salt, baking powder or baking soda, and those ingredients are usually sifted together separately. Sifting dry ingredients together might be a good suggestion when it comes to sifting our words carefully in order to avoid lumps, inconsistencies, and encourage unity. This reminds me that sifting my words carefully can avoid bitterness, jealousy, and offensiveness to others. Eggs-actly!

As you add the eggs to the dry ingredients, you must add them in one at a time, or a little at a time once beaten. Now the eggs provide the moisture to the dry ingredients, and the balance of eggs to dry ingredients if really important. So, first, before adding a lot of new situations to your home life, even though it may need something new, try introducing them a little at a time, and give the relationship a chance to absorb the changes. Give your spouse or friend a chance to acclimate to your thoughts and viewpoints before getting too demanding. And watch your measurements on those "dry ingredients" for accuracy, realizing too much of any ingredient can spoil the entire batch. This practice can be used in lots of ways, and hurts can be avoided simply by caring enough to take the time to make changes slowly, and measure every ingredient carefully. Too many eggs make a dense, tough cake, and too few eggs, can make a very dry cake. Balance the mixture to avoid relationships that are too hard to handle, or so dry, they fall apart.

Now here is one of our favorites: omelets. To make an omelet light and fluffy you may wish to use a wire whisk to add a bit of air into the mixture. Adding air in your beating technique might be similar to adding levity to a relationship. When things are too heavy, too serious, the weight can be too demanding for the relationship. Consider adding a fun activity. It is always a good thing to break up the serious, tense situations with a little breather. This is not the same thing as joking around when someone has been hurt or needs you to listen. This concept has to do with knowing when your loved one's are over-stressed, and being sensitive to the timing for adding some enjoyment to the mix.

If you just want plain scrambled eggs, and you do not want them fluffy, that is kind of like wanting the basics. Perhaps you just want your eggs pan friend, over easy, or soft boiled. These are the basics. You don't want to add fluff to the basics of scrambled eggs, else you might get a souffle. And trust me, there are times when we need to go back to the basics. Again, I apply this strategy to a relationship. There are times when we need to recognize that someone needs to be treated respectfully, wants to know they are loved and cared about, and needs to feel the basics of that love and trust. Again... learn from the egg.

Here's a couple of pointers: don't over beat the eggs if you want a tender result, don't over cook the soft boiled egg unless you like them hard boiled, and don't use old ingredients if you want a special result. Keep your ingredients as fresh as possible, pay attention to the details, and follow the recipe. So, for me, I would like us all to treat each other with the same courtesy and care that we treat eggs: follow the instructions, follow the recipe. Learn from the egg how to handle each other the right way for the desired result. Do not treat a friend like an enemy, do not give compliments to a fool, do not respect and show agreement with the ungodly. Do not give good gifts to those that are abusive, but rather show concern and support and give to the lowly, the hurting, the needy.

Give the way God says to give, the way God gives. Follow His recipe book, the Bible. It is the best book on relationships EVER! Every good book ever written has its base in God's Word. It is the only set of instructions still standing after thousands of years, since its beginning. Go to His Word and hear the importance of giving respect to a husband or a wife, hear the need to be tender and kind toward one another, hear the need to love one another. If you are wondering what has gone wrong in your relationships, perhaps you have been ignoring the recipe book (Bible). Every serious cook knows to check the instructions when it comes to cooking, especially when it comes to handling, and working with eggs. If it makes sense to follow a recipe to see how to handle an egg, then surely we can understand the need to consider instruction when it comes to how we treat each other.

After all, if an egg is important to a recipe, shouldn't caring for someone we love be really important? Shouldn't a "date night" be important to the relationship of a couple? Shouldn't budgeting conversations, communications, and problem solving be a part of a couple's discussions, not their fights? Shouldn't children know what it is like to have a dad's, or a mom's time, or both, as often as possible for homework, discussions, and family devotions? How much healthier might we all be if we would take a little time to think about the way we treat each other?

How we treat each other in a relationship, how we add ingredients to those relationships: toss it, turn it, beat it, or whip it, definitely matter. If we care enough about how a recipe turns out, wouldn't it make good sense to care about how a marriage, a friendship, a parental or sibling relationship turns out? God shared many a good instruction with us in His-story, the Bible. He spoke throughout time in various ways to men and women, gave inspiration to mighty men of God, prophets, and apostles, giving them powerful words of instruction, yes, recipes for healthy, holy living. We would be wise "relationship" cooks if we would turn to Him more frequently, and seek His wisdom and help in our relationships while we can.

Imagine the good result we might have if we would sift our words like flour, measure our criticism like salt, blend in the challenges and changes in the same way we carefully add the eggs in baking? Wouldn't it be great if people gave the same kind of attention to caring how sweet our relationship is, and actually consider how it tastes to others, at least as much as we care about how our food tastes?

Proverbs 15:1, informs us, "A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up strife" Wow! And we also added another recipe word... STIR. So again, right there in Proverbs, we have that great wisdom, "A harsh word stirs up strife." If we treat an egg harshly it will end up cracked, spoiled, or wasted on the floor. So we learn a lot about the fragility of people, particularly hurting people, when we consider the egg. In God's Word we read how to treat relationships wisely. Can you see how we can learn about the care of relationships the same as we learn to cook by following the recipe book, or in our case, the Bible? See the connection between a cookbook and the Bible? Both are meant to help us to learn, to be successful, both instruct us.

Consider your health, consider your family member's health, physically, mentally, emotionally, and Spiritually. Consider how much time you are investing in your priorities in life, and check to see if they are the right ones. Spend time talking, listening, or just playing a game together with your loved ones,(not the hand-held type you can play alone)and do something wholesome together.

I am humbly reminded of my human nature. I know it is easy to hurt the ones we love the most, and I know that relationships are fragile. So, the next time you need an egg... don't even beat that egg without thinking how specific the recipe's instruction always is about adding eggs, and then remember this illustration, and how it can be applied to how we treat others. Handle others like you would an egg... carefully, and according to the instructions... God's Word. And even if the one you are with is not as sensitive as an egg, keep on the right road by considering the egg.

Treat people God's way, even though that's not easy to do sometimes. I mean this sincerely... I am always, always reminded that I cannot do what is right on my own. I am ashamed to admit how many times I have failed at things in my life. But in failing, and in being wrong, I have come to a place of understanding about myself. I realize that I can not trust myself, my own instincts, my own heart on right and wrong. I must be willing to rely on the only one who truly knows what is right and wrong... the Lord, God Almighty. There is no doubt in my mind that I do not have a chance apart from God and His grace. I can not boast of any thing of myself, only of Christ, and what He has done for me, what He has done in me. And what He has shown me, I share with you, anyone who is reading this. So, remember... for good results in the kitchen... follow the recipe. To have good results in relationships... look to the Lord... and to His Word. And as I do my best daily to follow His instruction, I must also trust my success into His loving hands and remember "It's Only By His Grace"... until next time...