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February 2012
Cook it 'til it's done
It only takes an invitation to a family birthday party to get me thinking about what kind of delicious cake might be served that day. Recently before our family gathered to celebrate another-year-older, I wondered about the possibility of reviving a great, great grandmother’s applesauce spice cake recipe.The stained hand written recipe listed all the ingredients and simple instructions until the last sentence, “Bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes or so.”
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That was about as precise as other directions I’ve been given in the past, “cook it until it is done.” What did that really mean? All the years of cooking wisdom could have vanished in those vague words. In kitchens everywhere, inexperienced cooks could have missed an epicurean evolution. Had it not been for two kinds of observant people: the eye witnesses to great cooks and those who carefully recorded their cooking.
Similarly, some live like they cook. Some live by experience and intuition and others live by the careful knowledge of record keeping. What do you notice about how you learn to live with others? Do your past experiences keep you held in the past or do they help you move into the future? Or, do you have a clear understanding of the good old days and hope they never return because technology has brought you to a better place? These folksy questions are important to consider how we connect with each other in our relationships and how we use the technological evolution in our lives.
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Take a few minutes to read Neil Postman short address to a conference called, "The New Technologies and the Human Person: Communicating the Faith in the New Millennium”. His address is entitled “Five Things We Need to Know about Technological Change”. Read it here: http://www.mat.upm.es/~jcm/neil-postman--five-things.html. It is an excellent article helping us consider how technology has effects on our human relationships and faith.
What we know about life and what we experience can be as simple, and, as pleasurable as celebrating an old recipe and being thankful for the ones who first shared it with us. Yet, Neil Postman reminds us the presence of computers and other technology in our lives can take us away for warm human experiences.
At our Center for Counseling and Pastoral Care, we are here to help with your past experiences and we are interested in your secure future. We are here to help you connect to human relationships when changes leave you adrift.
Rev. Linda Horrell, MDiv, BCC, MSW, LCSW, AAPC Fellow
Clinical Director
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The Center for Counseling and Pastoral Care provides support in the form of workshops, seminars
and speaking engagements to interested parties. Please call (636) 527-7615 for more information.
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