Week 6: Using the Right Tools
Lessons learned from making breakfast for dinner…
Each Sunday, my wife and I prepare, cook and eat a meal together — intentionally. Every Friday, I’ll be sharing our experience here in this space. I want to see the growth that will come in our marriage because of this. I hope you enjoy our story. You can find last week’s post here.
The bacon sizzled in the oven. Sarah prepared the banana pancake mix as I cracked eggs into a bowl.
Ahh the sounds of Sunday dinner.
That’s right, we made breakfast for dinner. On the menu was banana pancakes, bacon and scrambled eggs. I had blender duty, so Sarah poured in the pancake mixture and I pressed the button. It’s one of my favorite jobs. But this time…something was wrong.
The blender was making its usual blending sound, but there wasn’t a whole lot of blending going on. Even on the highest setting, the blender just seemed to be biding its time. Maybe the mixture was too thick. Or maybe our blender had suddenly lost all motivation.
We turned off the machine and opened the lid. Sarah proceeded to manually mix up the banana pancake mixture with a spatula. Then we closed the lid again and turned on the blender.
Nothing.
It was quite perplexing. We mixed everything correctly. The blender was on and the lid was closed. What could possibly be going…
And that’s when Sarah noticed the blender attachment sitting on the counter.
Once we had the right tools in place, the task became pretty simple. It wasn’t a lack of motivation (on our part or the blender’s), just a minor oversight. We connected the attachment, turned on the blender and had ourselves a tasty banana pancake mix in no time.
I went to make the scrambled eggs while Sarah checked on the bacon. There’s something about the smell of bacon that causes you to stop everything you’re doing…mmmm, bacon…wait, where was I?
Oh, right. Sarah was pouring pancake mix into one pan while I was making eggs right next to her. At the same time, the bacon was in the oven.
There was a lot going on.
But it wasn’t hectic. Every movement had a purpose toward our common goal: making Sunday dinner together. If you’ve read any of our previous posts, you know that teamwork has become a core part of our Sunday dinners. It felt really good.
It tasted even better.
Look, I get it. You only opened this post because you saw a picture of bacon. I know, I’m a dirty, rotten trickster, huh? Let me tell you, the bacon was amazing! But the lessons learned from our breakfast for dinner (brinner?) will stick with me much longer.
1. Use the Right Tools
The blender didn’t work properly without the right attachment. We could have tried to make the pancake mix without fixing the issue, but it just wouldn’t have worked. Instead of being stubborn and simply trying the same thing, we stopped the blender and put on the right attachment.
There are some similarities in marriage.
A big one I’ve learned already is that sometimes a kind word is needed instead of trying to prove a point.
Sometimes taking a few minutes to breathe and clear your head is more useful than resolving conflict as quickly as possible.
Sometimes breakfast tastes better at 6:00pm.
Things may not make sense at first — just like a blender that isn’t blending. But when you step back and look at the situation together, you start to see solutions. Which brings me to one of the most important tools Sarah and I have in our marriage toolbox…
2. Work Together
Teamwork.
I wasn’t figuring out the blender problem on my own. Sure, it looks obvious now, but in the moment, I just wasn’t getting it. But Sarah found a solution. Together we made those banana pancakes, and they were AWESOME!
In the same way, it would have been difficult for Sarah to cook all the food by herself. (Don’t get me wrong, she could have done it. I mean…she IS a superhero.) But I helped. We worked together.
Look, we’ve only been married 7 months. It’s not like we’re gurus or anything. But we’re learning every day. And we’re learning together. I think there’s something very beautiful about that.
I’m so thankful you’ve let us share it with you.
