Volcano Stew

Rejoice in the Lord always.
I will say it again: REJOICE!
Phillippians 4:4


Candy was running late getting home from work again. She finally stumbled into the house muttering apologies and grabbed the pot of leftover stew from the refrigerator. Slamming it on the stove, she flipped on the burner and rushed to change into some comfortable clothes while hollering, “ Someone please set the table!”


A few minutes later when she rushed to back into the kitchen, her nose sensed disaster. The Stove! The pot of stew she had placed on the burner was bubbling imitation of Mount Vesuvius. Tall columns of tomato-red sauce sputtered into the air above the pot. Pieces of vegetables spewed over its sides.


Candy shrieked, and her family hurried into the kitchen. The pot was boiling so furiously that it was impossible to turn the burner off without being spattered by the tomato-sauce columns. The foaming vegetables were spilling over so quickly that no one could grab the pot’s handles without getting burned. But someone had to try. Amid exclamations of “ouch!” “Hey, that’s hot!” and “Yeow!” hands reached from all directions and eased the pot from its heat source.

Quickly Candy switched the burner off and surveyed the kitchen. Stew had splattered everywhere, and everyone’s hands were covered with the sticky red goo. Her oldest child broke the silence. With a glint in her eye, she licked the stew from her hands and said, “ Good dinner, Mom.”

The laughter that accompanied the cleanup that night echoed with the Bible’s admonition to always rejoice.


A good laugh is sunshine in a house.


The question for the day is: “ I could save time if I slowed down enough to?”

Taken out of the book of: “Quiet Moments with God for Women.”