Of all the cooking tools we have at home, our Instant Pot is the one I like the best. I didn’t at first—all the meat turned out tough. But then I learned which recipes work best for an Instant Pot, and now I use it all the time.
The Instant Pot is an electric pressure cooker. Under pressure, water boils at a higher temperature, which helps the food cook faster. So the Instant Pot creates a high pressure environment where you can cook tender pulled pork in an hour, instead of waiting all day for the slow-cooker.
Lately, my house has felt like a pressure cooker.
We’re all under the stay-at-home order, and it’s getting to us.
The kids can’t go to school (in fact, we just found out it’s cancelled for the rest of the year). I can’t go to work (I miss my coworkers!). And we can’t go over to friends’ houses, or go shopping, or go to the parks. We’re mostly stuck at home, and as a result the pressure has been increasing, and cooking times are much faster!
By that, I mean it takes much less to rile me up. I practically wake up grumpy. I find that I’m barking and snapping at the kids for things I would have had more patience for in the past (e.g., consistently leaving the front door open when they play in the front yard, or leaving the milk out, or leaving half-eaten yogurt cups everywhere, or resisting doing their online schoolwork). I used to wake up, or come home from work, with a higher tolerance for shenanigans—no longer!
And the kids are flipping out on each other. It’s like watching the elementary school version of Bloodsport.
And what’s worse, Abby and I have bickered over mostly stupid things. I’ve had to buy her flowers twice (and yes, Mr. CDC, flowers can be an “essential service”).
Spiritually speaking, I find that I’ve had to apologize to someone every single day for the last couple of weeks.
I didn’t necessarily want to apologize, but I knew I had to.
That’s been the biggest spiritual discipline that I’ve been practicing during the quarantine—apologizing liberally.
As James said,
Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed (James 5:16a NASB).
Someone wrote the radio show and asked how to know if we should be practicing James 5:16 instead of 1 John 1:9.
Don’t worry—if your conscience doesn’t tell you, your spouse and kids will!
Whom do you need to apologize to?
