SIZZLE

My husband had decided to bring home the bacon, for real. Our local store had a bargain if you bought two packages, and he couldn’t resist. BLTs (bacon-lettuce-tomato-sandwiches) are high in his love language. Yes, we know bacon isn’t on the same health level as kale and bean sprouts, but sometimes we sin against nutritional guidelines. I cook it up, drain it, and stack the pieces between paper towels in a container headed for the freezer.  Besides adding crunch to BLTs, bacon turns scrambled eggs into gourmet delights.

OUT OF THE FRY PAN....
As I stood watch guard over the sizzling fry pan, I had a nudge that there might be a spiritual lesson here. (You’re probably thinking, this lady fried her brain, too!). The heat that releases the fat from the meat is like adversity releasing the spiritual fat from our lives.  This takes me back to James 1:2-4, which became front and center in my life when I jumped out of the frying pan into the fire—I mean, graduated college and went into the “real world” for my first job.  On this bigger stage, I faced many more testings of my faith:

Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.  Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

In college, I hopped through curriculum hoops for ten weeks each, wrote papers and took tests. Then, on to the next class.  In the School of Life, those lessons and tests just keep coming and I never really know how well I am doing. My only hints of a “passing grade” are experiencing the closeness of the Lord and discerning tiny changes in my character. Said another way, the “fat” of fleshly entitlement slowly melts away in the heat of life’s hard places.

Am I “fully cooked”? Well, no. How would you answer that for yourself? Actually, James wrote the answer in the verse above.  This spiritual “cooking” goes on until we’re mature and complete. To me, that is spelled H-E-A-V-E-N. James alludes to that a few verses later:

Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him. (v. 12)

If I stirred up your taste buds for a BLT, well, glad to know there’s a kindred spirit out there.