Skillets don’t last long in my kitchen. Since I’m on a special diet, I cook fried or scrambled eggs almost every day. I also cook skillet dinners pretty regularly. I usually don’t spend more than $20 for a non-stick skillet, the big ones, or $10 for the smaller ones. So, after many uses, the Teflon gets worn away and the eggs, bacon, sausage, and other yummy stuff starts to stick to the pan causing wasted food and frustration. I know some of you love cast-iron skillets and I do like them for certain recipes, but they are just such a pain to clean!

Today I was in a hurry to get out of the house, and since I was only cooking for myself,  I grabbed an old 10 inch skillet from the bottom of my cabinet. I put about 7 slices of bacon in the pan and after a few minutes realized I’d picked a bad pan. It was cooking very unevenly, burning the middle and raw on the ends. Horrors! I love bacon and hate to see it poorly cooked. After frequent turns , I got it cooked. Then I cracked three eggs into the grease, sadly aware that they were going to stick the formerly non-stick pan. And yes, they did, but I still ate them.

But while I was cooking I was asking myself why I still had this stupid pan that was ruining my breakfast? The answer is that I have trouble throwing away useful items. I thought it still had some life left in it, but nope. It should have been thrown out when I bought the new pan that I’ve already been using for a few months.  I kept it as a backup or maybe I thought I’d use it on a camping trip. But the truth is it had outlived its usefulness. It’s in the trashcan outside now. Thanks for the good times!

I know I have other things in my house and in my life that are no longer useful to me or anyone and should be thrown out. Like old phone chargers, dead 10 year old laptops, stained and worn children’s clothes, old curriculum that has been written in or is just so old the information is no longer worth teaching.  I can’t donate that stuff to a thrift store. That’s just passing along my junk and they will have to pay to dispose of it.

In my life I have old habits, irrational beliefs, and invalid prejudices that I am working to throw out. God has really been working on me for the past 10 years or so and I feel like he and I have been able to clear out a lot of old junk. For example, I have overcome a lot of fears and insecurities and my faith in God has grown exponentially. However I still have to work on my habit of forgetting to consider the other person’s perspective before speaking,  right from the start. I usually get around to doing it but sometimes I say stupid things first. Conversely, I have to work on my old habit of being too easily swayed to the other side out of fear of making the other person mad. I have to stick to my beliefs when I know I am right, but do it without anger or rudeness. When I first got on Facebook I’m ashamed to admit I was too often guilty of ‘hiding behind a keyboard’ and saying whatever I wanted without  thinking about how those are ( for the most part) real people out there in Facebook land. Social media has actually helped me to be more understanding of people who are different than me.

Today in Bible study we learned about how in the Old Testament various kings would lead the people away from God and then a good king would come in and bring them back. He would throw out all the idols that the people had been worshiping and restore them back to following God’s commandments and worshiping Him.  Then he would die and a bad king would come in and bring back the idolatry. This happened  over and over. The people were very influenced by the faith practices of their king. If the king feared and knew God, the people did well. Even though all this happened , God did not abandon his people or the covenant he made with them. In the future all the bad stuff will be thrown out and everyone will worship the true King, Jesus Christ.  You can learn about the gospel here.