The Breakfast

The other Friday afternoon I was busy running errands (for example to replace a broken ice maker, get a dance floor for a wedding, and more). When I got home to Roseland, I saw coffee in the pot on the burner, but decided to leave it on until the last minute before retiring from Roseland just in case the guests wanted some.

In the meantime, I started doing some work in the office, then ate dinner, and before long it was time to close up shop. I totally forgot about the coffee, ice, refreshments, and cookies we usually set out for the guests; and taking inventory to ensure that we have all necessary supplies for breakfast. I was tired, went home, and rested in peace.

Butler's Pantry Well Stocked with Snacks for Guests

Next morning the coffee in the pot had burned and formed a solid mass. Donna, our helper, had to clean that up before starting on breakfast, setting us behind in a tight breakfast schedule. In addition, I had to run back to the house to get ice because our ice machine is broken and I didn't bring up the ice the night before. Falling further behind....

Then while preparing breakfast I realized we were out of butter, except for frozen butter which has to be defrosted before it can be sliced. This is a time consuming process, and usually involves one or two sticks of butter being totally melted in the microwave. With this unexpected extra work and waste of butter, we continued falling farther and farther behind the clock.

Fruit cup appetizer

Once the butter problem was resolved, Donna asked me to help with the condiments because she was running behind her schedule, due to having to clean up the coffee pot. That's when I found out we didn't have enough salsa on hand. So I searched and searched the refrigerators several times, as did Donna. We found enough to barely squeeze by, but had wasted yet more time. Tick, tock, tick, tock, went the clock and we continued falling farther and farther behind.

While searching for the salsa, the scrambled eggs had been cooking. At this point they have to be stirred regularly to keep from browning and turning into a scrambled omelet. Well, being distracted by the salsa, I neglected to stir the eggs and they started browning. The problem, thank God, is not fatal; the brown pieces can be removed individually. This is an extremely time consuming operation and normally results in loss of one serving of eggs. Since I normally make enough for an extra serving or two, we can recover. However, the time lost cannot be recovered. Falling still further behind...

While trying to remove the brown from the eggs, I didn't pay enough attention to the items in the oven and nearly burned the biscuits. Fortunately I didn't. The breakfast turned out fine, and was ultimately served almost on time, but with a lot of unnecessary pain and suffering.

The Main Course:  Eggs, bacon, biscuit, and our special home-made cheesy grits

I don’t tell you these trade secrets to scare you about the delicious food you will receive at Roseland – because it is always delicious. But I do divulge these trade secrets because the event provides a significant life lesson for us all, as follows:

I took my eye off the ball for just one moment the day before the breakfast. I didn't follow up and prepare for the next day's breakfast the way I usually do. I didn't check inventory of supplies, and I didn't check the setup as usual. Nothing big happened to distract me, just the grind of daily minutiae.

The next day this small error snowballed into a whole chain of potential calamities. A small oversight the night before affected not just me, but set Donna behind schedule, which put us both even further behind, and ultimately almost affected our guests as well. But for the Grace of God, the next day we barely escaped a disastrous breakfast.

It's the same with Jesus in your life. If you take you eye off Him, even for one moment, the enemy will sneak up on you and cause havoc in your life and in the life of those around you. Not necessarily immediately, but sooner rather than later. And then you will find bad things snowballing - one bad thing turning into another and then another, affecting both you and all those near and dear to you.

So, never, ever turn aside from His face - even to glance at the scenery on the side. You will inevitably experience a calamity if you do.

That’s why I must be totally focused on Jesus and Roseland to the exclusion of all else - especially earthly distractions. My destiny lies beyond death. I am on a journey to eternity, and my task in this life is to give everything I have - 110% - to my Lord. That includes my time, emotions, love, energy, money, or whatever is required to do the work He has assigned to me - including Roseland which He has placed in my care.

I must do for Jesus exactly what I did for Debbie, my beloved Angel:  Give Him all the love I have with no reservations, conditions, limits, or bounds. Nothing less can do for my Creator and Redeemer. If I don't, I will have committed the greatest sin of all:  Devalued His sacrifice on my behalf. And, as with the breakfast, I can be certain that calamity will overcome me and those around me if I take my eyes off Jesus, even for a moment.

So each day I pray, "Jesus, My Lord, please help me keep my eyes locked onto Your beautiful face and not glance away, not even for a moment, lest I fall and cause those around me to fall, too. Amen"

God bless,

Steve