Take It Easy

Last week, I was sick with some sort of stomach virus. I felt horrible for the first half of the week. I didn't want to eat. I felt queasy and weak. All I wanted to do was sleep. I hate feeling like that! I despise being sick. The worst part was not the queasiness or the fatigue; it was the effect that all of this was having on my poor brain. I was so "out of it" that I was doing the dumbest stuff. . . but none as dumb as the following:

Jason had been taking care of the cooking and the housework when he got off work each day in addition to taking care of me. He had his hands full. On Tuesday, he had to work late, and I didn't want him to have to fix dinner for himself when he finally got home. So I pulled myself out of bed, went to the freezer, and pulled out a pizza. I checked the directions for a temperature setting and time, then unwrapped the pizza, stuck it on a pizza pan, threw it in the oven, and set the timer. That was enough to exhaust me, so I went and crawled back in bed while waiting for the pizza to cook. (Besides, I didn't want to stay in the kitchen where I could smell it. Yuck!!!)

Jason came home, and shortly after that, the timer went off. He was busy taking care of some other things, so I went out to the kitchen to get his pizza. As I began cutting the pizza, I realized something was wrong. The crust was strange, and it didn't seem to want to cut. It wasn't hard and crunchy. It was more like cardboard. That's because. . . it was cardboard. I was so "out of it" that I didn't even realize the cardboard was still on the bottom of the pizza. I had cooked it that way. As I stood there, I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

I called Jason and explained what I had done. He laughed, gave me a hug, and told me it would be fine. Then he proceeded to try to cut the pizza and scrape it from the cardboard. To top it all off, he ate the pizza without complaint. What love! What forgiveness!

Today, when someone around you does something really stupid, take it easy on them. First of all, we all make mistakes. (Some of us make more than others, but we won't go there right now.) Second, you have no idea what that person may be going through. Perhaps they're sick or upset or just having a bad day. Before we fly off the handle at others, let's take a moment to pray that God will help us to be patient and forgiving. That forgiveness may be the one thing that can brighten that person's day! Besides, cardboard doesn't taste THAT bad! We'll be alright.