Read the Directions

Fixing a frozen pizza is normally a pretty uneventful task. Pre-heat the oven, insert pizza, take out when done - easy enough, right? Just what I needed for a quick supper the other night.

The pizza looked done enough so I placed it on a cookie sheet and rolled out the pizza cutter. Hmm, it didn't seem to be cutting well. It seemed a bit 'mushy', so I decided to toss it back in the still-warm oven for another minute or two.


Take it out again - same results. Now this is a fairly new oven and I've not had problems with the thermostat before, so I was baffled. I slid two slices onto my plate and lo, what do I see? The cardboard beneath the pizza that I had neglected to remove before baking!


I have no idea the number of times I've baked a frozen pizza in my time, but not once have I forgotten the cardboard. In fact, I've often smiled at the comments on the box that remind you to remove it, much like I've never been able to understand how someone could cook a turkey without checking for whatever 'innards' may be inside.

The fact is, I was too sure of myself and didn't feel like I needed to stop and read the directions. I'd read them probably dozens of times before and like I said, getting a simple pizza from freezer to table is normally pretty easy.

Staying in God's word is much the same. Sure, we've all read the Bible here and there and could probably quote scripture with the best of them. But do you make it a part of your routine, before you go about the tasks of the day?

I've lived a good part of my life without God in it and obviously survived to tell about it, but it would have been so much easier if I had paused to 'read the directions' on a daily basis. No matter if I had been through the same things before, there have been times where I have made the same mistakes over and again. I could certainly have used a reminder on just how things should be done according to The Manufacturer. His directions were right there for me, but I chose to ignore them.

Yes, things turned out 'ok', just like my pizza that was edible, but they could have been so much better if I had not done things my own way because I thought I knew what I was doing.

Does reading the directions guarantee that things will always turn out perfect? No! But His directions come with an eternal guarantee.

Read The Directions