Just Cook The Meat Already

The lazy do not roast any game, but the diligent feed on the riches of the hunt. -Proverbs 12:27

Browning ground beef seems to be beyond me some days. You know how it is--you buy it from the store and have only 2 or 3 days to cook it or freeze it before you find yourself throwing it away. You would think that for someone who doesn't really have the funds to let food go bad, I would never have that problem. You would think that after coming home from the store I'd take the 6 minutes to just brown the stuff, throw it in some Tupperware, and make the rest of the meal later (at the least).

But no, I must say that the last few times I've bough ground beef I've had "really good reasons" why not to cook it right away, and then suddenly a week later I find myself throwing it out. Sigh.

So on Sunday I had this grand idea to buy 3 pounds of ground beef which I would then use to make two dishes--a huge pot of spaghetti, and a beef and green bean recipe of my mom's that I love but have never ever made in the 10 years since I've left college.

The thought was that since I had Monday off, I would spend it doing all of the dishes that are piled up in the sink, and then cooking.

Or I could watch movies.

Guess which one I did?

So Tuesday I was back to work and made the decision to actually leave somewhat on time (that's a whole 'nother post) so I could go home and do all the dishes that are piled up in the sink, and then cook.

Or I could watch The Biggest Loser.

Sigh.

So finally at about 10pm I got ready for bed and as I did I bemoaned my laziness to God and asked that He would just do something to help me, to give me that push I needed to actually get something done. And yet I recognized that God wouldn't magically make my arms and legs move--that I would actually have to take the steps into the kitchen and start if I wanted to get anything accomplished.

Revelation. God will give you the strength, the will, and even a sense of enjoyment for a task, but He needs you to get off your keister of your own volition. That He will not do. I think it's called Obedience.

So I walked into the kitchen, stared dolefully at the sink full of dishes, and realized that the frying pans were clean. Hooray. I got out two pans because I had two 1.5 pound packages of meat, and started cooking. Once I got the meat going, I realized that the big pot was out because only I'd used it to heat water, nothing else was in it, so I could probably make the spaghetti noodles, and the frying pan was *just* big enough for me to fit two jars of sauce. So I started the water, moved half a pound of beef from one pan to the other, and started in on the sauce.

While I was at it I remembered that the beef and green bean dish (which I was also making, since I had the spaghetti going, I might as well) was served with rice. I did have to wash one pot in order to make the rice. One. I filled it with water, put it on the last free burner, and turned it on.

Nothing. No flame.

Fine. I don't need to make rice. I'll just put the meat and stuff in a container and let it sit until I decide at some point in the future to finally get off my butt again and--oh shoot, I have a flame clicker thingy, I'm sure all I have to do is just start the stupid fire.

And two minutes later I had water and rice heating.

To make a long story short--or at least to end it--last night in about an hour I made enough food to get me through all my meals for the rest of the week. Sure it would have been lovely to be in bed by 10pm, but realistically I'm not sure that would have happened anyway, and here I ended up my night with an accomplishment. And why? What made me get this task done?

Not so much my diligence, really, but that I asked God to help me, and I took a step forward.

It's amazing what all you can accomplish if you just do those two little things.

Maybe next time I'll ask Him to help me do the dishes. :)