The Baked Beans Parable

Yesterday, my life and kitchen were filled with excitement as I made my family's recipe for homemade baked beans.

I was nervous when starting out because my grandmother and my father had made these for years and everyone loved and desired them. There hasn't been a church supper or family gathering where these beans have not made an appearance to be praised and then promptly devoured.

With recipe in hand and all the ingredients for success at my finger tips, would I be able to accomplish my goal for dinner?

I followed the recipe closely and even called my father for guidance to fill in some instructions that I knew he had hidden knowledge about, yet had not written it down. There are always nuances and subtle bits of importance that rarely are written down.

The house smelled great all day. The recipe was simple and straight forward and I thought success was going to be easy to obtain since I had followed it strictly and everything seemed (and smelled) to be going as planned.

The family sat down for dinner. My heart was filled with anticipation and nervousness all mixed together.

We ate in silence as the first few spoonfuls entered our mouths.

"They are good, but they are not your Dad," my wife politely stated.

I agreed. They were good, but they were not great.

What seemed so straight forward and easy really needed years of trial and error to be a success. Following a recipe, guide or instruction manual only gets you so far. Putting in the time and doing something over and over is the only way to really master anything.

I was discouraged. I had let myself down.

Guess what though? If I gave up after the first time I tried everything, I'd never learn how to truly do anything.

This of course is about more than baked beans. Read it again. Take it to heart. Think about it.

And no, you can't have our family recipe.