Episode 36- Friday Heart to Heart
Good morning! Thanks for joining me on today’s Friday Heart to Heart. How do you like the new title? I felt like that described a little more accurately the sentiment I wanted to convey in these Friday episodes. On Tuesdays, it’s all about sharing another’s mother’s journey and on Fridays, I get to share my heart with yours.
Today, I wanted to talk about two things. First, we live in a time where “busy” is glorified. It’s revered to be “busy”… we are doing better in life if we are “busy”… when people ask how we are, 9/10 we say…. “BUSY!” It’s like if you’re not busy, you are slacking. But what does busy really mean. Usually if you are living in busy-mode, your calendar is booked solid, you are rushing from place to place, doing fun and spontaneous activities often go out the window, you are left with little time to re-charge, and usually you are stressed and grumpy because you are drained. If that kind of existence is so taxing and when described like that.. undesirable… why is that our go-to goal?
Granted I have three kids under age 6, and our schedules will definitely ramp up as the years go on, but I have tried very hard to be intentional about how we spend our time and how we fill up our calendar. On any given day, we are doing a lot of things and “keep busy”, but if you look at my calendar, it is typically very open. I try to not to over-schedule so that there’s room for spontaneity, change, transitions, and service. I want to be able to see how I feel that day and let that determine my to-dos. I like to pray about people that might be in need of my company or service, and then have the time to respond to those promptings. I like to ask my kids what they’d like to do. We’re not sitting around bored and twiddling our thumbs… we are doing… but instead of saying that we have a “busy life” I like to say we have a “full life.”
To me, “full” means that our days are filled up with the things that are most meaningful to us. They may not be calendar items and things may come up at the last minute, but because we created margin our lives, we can have flexibility to do the things we truly want to do and do the things that bring us joy.
So going along with this theme, one thing I love to do with my time is make dinner for other people. We often host dinners at our home, but I enjoy just as much packaging up a homemade meal for someone else who might benefit from having that taken off their plate. I buy disposable tins at the Dollar Store, and then I don’t have to worry about getting my containers back from the recipient and usually I just double a meal that I was already going to make for my own family. Whether it’s because they just had a new baby, maybe they are sick, maybe their husband is gone or has been working long hours, or maybe it’s just because who wouldn’t want someone else to cook them dinner???? Bringing a meal is a great way to tell someone that you care and you were thinking about them. So here are three of my favorite meals to bring to someone in need:
Chili with cornbread on top. She makes her “chili” filling a bit different, as I just make normal chili using McCormick’s original seasoning and the recipe on the back, and then cover with cheese and then the cornbread batter. But the magical component to this meal is really the cornbread. Doubles beautifully.
Chicken Pot Pie– Pillsbury recipe. Use the refrigerated, pre-made crust to save yourself some rolling. Use frozen veggies to save yourself some chopping. And of course, it is always handy to have some shredded rotisserie in the freezer. Voila!
Enchiladas… use Trader Joe’s glass jar of red enchilada sauce. And then mix in the following: Shredden chicken, drained and rinsed black beans, handful of shredded cheddar, and a few Tbl of sauce. Warm some corn tortillas to soften and then roll some of the mixture up in them. Add a little sauce to bottom of pan to keep them from sticking. Once they are all rolled up and lining the pan, add more sauce and cheese to the top. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 min.
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