Real Talk from Exploding Cheese

A few weeks ago I bought a jar of cheese sauce. Normally I make my own because it’s not difficult and I can make it as spicy as I like. In the interest of saving time however, I bought the jar. The thought process was to just pop it in the microwave when I got home from church so it could heat while I changed clothes. Ideally: Get home, heat and eat, out the door for the drive to the trail, long hike, then home again to relax. Winter days in the Mid-Atlantic are too short for my liking.

Lesser known fact about me; I’m quick change artist when I want to be. In under a minute after the microwave buttons were pushed I was halfway into hiking gear. I had just pulled my base layer pant on when I heard a loud bang in the kitchen. With three cheese addicted cats in the house noise like that is a call to action. And they were nowhere to be found. What I did find was a microwave mess.

As someone who does not purchase the product I had no idea the process for ensuring optimal use. There were no directions on the jar stating it should be removed from said jar to be heated. A hot spot had formed in the middle of the sauce and erupted in lactose laden fury. It dripped from the roof of the microwave like sarcasm from a comedians mouth. Except I wasn’t laughing. What was supposed to be a time saver of prep and clean up wound up costing me twice what I had anticipated. The microwave needed cleaned. The towels the microwave was cleaned with needed cleaned. I still had not eaten yet. The cats reappeared and prayed for me to drop something. My rather pricy hiking gear was praying I wouldn’t.

I salvaged some of the cheese sauce and heated it on the stove. It wasn’t the greatest. The pan from that was cleaned up as well. In the end I spent an extra half hour with my time saving shortcut for something I didn’t even enjoy. The hike that day was a bit shorter than I anticipated. First, because of timing and secondly because I felt like garbage. Real cheese wouldn’t have done that to me.

So why am I, a career cook, openly admitting to this entire debacle?

Because life right now looks like a jar of exploding cheese.

Does anyone else know what I mean by that? You think you have something figured out that will help save time and make life efficient. But then it all blows up in a mind numbing mess of cleanup and waste. Instead of productivity it’s empty calories burned into a stomach ache of listlessness. I’m not talking about food here. I will say it’s called fast food because sometimes it’s better to fast than eat the food. I’m talking about life.

Things of value require work. We were made by God to work (Genesis 2:15). There’s no such thing as a legitimate get rich scheme. If it sounds too good to be true, it is too good to be true. We all know the platitudes. And yet, there is a lot of truth to the old sayings. The Bible has an entire book to read about it: Proverbs. If you think the Bible is just some dry text and a bunch of funny names try reading Proverbs. There’s some sass inside.

Today would have been my late husband’s birthday. We tried to make birthdays a Big Deal. After he passed there was an Exploding Cheese birthday and now they don’t mean as much. I don’t know what he’d think of the mess I’ve made of everything. I tried so hard to keep my promises to him from our last full conversation together. And all of them are broken promises. I’m glad God didn’t let him look into the future and see the messy microwave life I created.

Today is a hard day. Tomorrow will be better. The next day will be fine. There is no such thing as normal. There is only the steadfastness of God’s love. If I had not opened the microwave door the mess would still be there. Denying it’s existence doesn’t make it cease to exist. When the cheese of fast faith explodes only opening the heart to the true, unchanging Word of God can begin the clean up process. I had dish towels to get the microwave white; Jesus shed His blood so I could be washed white.

I feel like watered down fake cheese being wrung from an old dish towel. Feeling are real but sometimes they lie. God isn’t out to hurt me. He’s trying to help me get rid of the debacles my well intentioned short cuts have created. He is reminding me that there is a better, more nutritious option. It doesn’t need food coloring or artificial flavors. The Bible says, “Taste and see that the Lord is good.” (Psalm 34:8)

Life will have hot spots. Stirring will take them away. A stirring of the Spirit to prayer may be exactly what is needed to get rid of an explosion. It’s not enough to just shake the jar. Dig deep.

1 Peter 1:3-9 reads this: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith—the salvation of your souls.

I always want to be strong. Have the exact right thing to say. Never do the dumb thing. Not embarrass my family. Understand everything I read in scripture. Have perfect days at work. Be the good listener. Not buy the wrong cat litter. Eat the right food. You get the idea. But I’m absolutely not this person. And it’s very hard to be ok with that. It’s very hard to just let things go and trust God. I trusted a jar of fake cheese more than I trusted myself. And I have to stop trusting myself more than I trust God.

In the end, the microwave was clean, I had “food”, a hike was achieved, and a lesson was learned. In a fallen world there are too many Exploding Cheese days to NOT fully rely on God. Even when it’s dark. When He’s quiet. When it’s hard. When it hurts. When it’s heavy. Especially those moments. We all have them. He knows. He has us covered in His grace, mercy, and love. We just need faith.