This is the second one I've written. This one was harder for me than I expected. It was hard to decide what to write. That's surprising, right? Well, if you're interested ... this is one of the things I believe...
I believe in visiting with people, empty
handed, but willing to work. I suppose I
can blame my parents for this predicament.
When I was a kid, we would spend hours visiting with people. Sometimes we would just drop by and chat with
them. I don’t remember my parents ever
asking, “What can we do to help you?” More
often than not, mom or dad would just notice something that needed to be done,
and we’d get right to work.
As I grew up, I started to notice that
other women always brought a little goodie when they’d stop to visit a friend. One of my first visiting teaching companions
showed up at an appointment with a cute, brown gift bag rustically tied with
raffia. As she apologized for having to
“throw together something,” the escaping aromas gave away the secret of fresh
baked peanut butter and chocolate goodies.
This wasn’t an isolated incident. Over
and over again, as I went to visit families, other women in the companionship would show up with little bundles of home baked goodies. I started to wonder if I had missed the rule
that required all sisters to present goodies when visiting another home. My empty hands felt insufficient.
Sure, I was capable of pulling together
a meal for the homebound family, but I didn’t feel as confident about whipping
up a batch of cookies every time I went to visit someone. I settled on taking jars filled with small
candies, flowers, and re-plated store bought goodies for special occasions.
During one early morning presidency meeting, the President had mentioned that a family in our ward was
having a particularly hard time. When
the family didn’t show up at church, I thought about them all afternoon. I wanted to do something to lift their
spirits. I wanted them to know they were
loved! It hadn’t been too long, since I
had taken a jar of candy, I wasn’t prepared to make an entire meal, and since
it was Sunday, I couldn’t go buy flowers.
What could I do to help?
I turned to every woman’s inspirational
site: Pinterest. Like most other LDS woman, I had pinned lots
of yummy things; however, for me, Pinterest was much like a library full of
beautiful books, purchased but never opened.
This time, being desperate, I was motivated to actually try a
recipe. I decided on the sophisticated
sounding Chocolate Chip Bacon Cookies.
The blogsters all described them as “salty and sweet with smoky
undertones.” Who wouldn’t love
that?
Each mound of cookie dough baked to the
perfect golden brown with chocolate chips peeking through in just the right
ratios. I gathered my family and we
taste tested the cookies. We each
enjoyed a few, warm from the oven, plated a dozen, and proudly delivered the
perfectly shaped cookies to the needy family.
I was so proud of my unusual triumph in the kitchen that I dropped off a
couple of bundles around the neighborhood.
The next morning my oldest son noticed
an awful smell coming from the cookies.
I thought he was imagining things, but when I tasted one, the smell
seemed to reflect the rancid taste. Oh,
my! The cookies that looked Pinterest
perfect yesterday were definitely disgusting today. I immediately
imagined the warning phone calls from one family to another: “Don’t eat the
cookies!” I could only hope my Pinterest
failures were enjoyed immediately and not left to stink up their kitchens.
One day not long after that
experience, I was thinking about a time that me and a friend stopped to visit a
pregnant mom with three little children.
As I sat with the mom, my friend noticed the kitchen was in disarray and
she started cleaning it as we visited.
We didn’t stay too long, but before we left we had cleaned the kitchen
and the family room. It felt good to
leave the mom’s home knowing that she had been relieved of a couple of burdens.
I realized that while I love the
goodies that some women bring, what I do best is visit, empty handed, but
willing to work.
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