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Montage Moments is a page of blog postings about a variety of subjects, thoughts and opinions..

What Is Your Comfort Zone?

3/29/2014

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Our comfort zone is a frequently-used phrase. Occasionally, it is used to describe something physical, such as mountain climbing or jumping out of a plane. Those are probably out of most people's comfort zones. But usually, when we speak about a 'comfort zone' we are talking about something which makes us extremely uncomfortable, but probably is not going to endanger our lives.

Most polls, if you believe their findings, list public speaking as the number 1, numero uno, fear of most people and definitely not in their comfort zone. That is not true of me; I may have a butterfly or two right before I begin speaking, but it disappears immediately as I warm to my audience. I sincerely like to talk to people and engage them, but I've been told I could talk to a doorpost. I don't know if that is a compliment, but it is true, nonetheless. However, I do have other areas that make me uncomfortable.

I would guess our ability to overcome our fears and venture outside our comfort is based directly on our 'want' of something. If we were told we would have the ultimate dream job...great pay, great working environment, good people to work with; all the perks we ever wanted, if we could do something that made us uncomfortable (not talking about illegal or immoral), we would probably do it or at least try. The rewards are definitely the motivator.

I don't usually write about my daughter, Kalisha, on this blog because I write about her on 2 other ones, but today I am going to break that rule. Kalisha has several things she feels she just can't do. Due to her autism, sensory issues are always a problem, especially with clothing. She has never worn slacks with a zippered closure or belt loops; never worn a belt and does not wear clothing with buttons.

She recently was hired for 2 different jobs. Hallelujah! One is only for 4 days, but she has to wear khaki slacks and a white button-up-the-front dress blouse. The other job is at our local minor league baseball stadium and she is so excited, she can't stand it. But...she has to wear khaki slacks with a zippered waist and belt loops and wear a belt. And the shirt must be tucked in at the waist. ALL of these things are w-a-a-a-y out of her comfort zone.



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As you can see, she did purchase all the required items. Today, she wore the slacks and belt for the first time. She overcame her fear because the motivation was stronger than the fear. She really wanted to have this job.

So what does this have to do with us as Christians? In my experience, we (most of us) are very uncomfortable about witnessing unless it is from the safety of our computer or other device. It is definitely out of our comfort zone. I remember one evangelistic effort by a church where I was a member, many, many years ago. We were sent out by twos (biblical, yes?) to give a new testament to people. Not selling anything, just knocking on doors and handing them a small copy of the new testament with a smile. My friend and I knocked on doors all afternoon, praying as we approached each home. Now before you think how pious we were, let me tell you what our prayer was: "Please, Lord, don't let anyone answer the door."

Oh, yeah, our motivation definitely was not to spread the good news of Jesus Christ. It was to get done with our job and go home. What should our motivation be? Do we want people to know about the free salvation and hope of eternal life as much as Kalisha wants her job?

I don't know about you, but I have to pray about this and hopefully, with God's help, I can step out of my comfort zone a little more often....with the right motivation.

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Making Noodles

3/12/2014

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For some unknown reason, I decided to resurrect my noodle machine and make some noodles. I say resurrect because I have not had it out of the box in more than 20 years. 
Once upon a time, when I was trying desperately to be totally self-sufficient (well, not TOTALLY, since I did still buy flour) I purchased a noodle-making machine. My mother had always made noodles by rolling out the strips of dough and after they dried, she would stack them on top of each other and cut the little strips with a knife. I liked the idea of turning the crank handle and having it roll and then cut the dough into noodles.
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I believe I stopped using it after every session ended with me digging more dough out of the rollers than I used to make the noodles. No matter how well I floured the dough, it would become gummy and stick in the rollers or the cutters. The machine cannot be washed so I would allow the 'stuck' pieces to dry and then they would fall out. It was very frustrating and resulted in lots of bad words being said. I finally packed it away. I considered selling it at a garage sale many times, but could never quite bring myself to part with it.


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I found the box, carefully took the machine out and then wondered if the instructions were still in the box because as I said, it had been many, many years and I definitely had slept in that time.

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I found the paper that is supposed to be the directions. It really isn't any kind of 'directions' but whatever it is, it is written in nearly every language known to man. There are only 2 pieces to this thing plus the crank handle and the piece that fastens it to the table, so how much do I have to remember? Not much; although I did originally try to attach the cutters upside down. I am ready to make noodles.........


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I have a noodle recipe from my Amish friend, Rosemary. She gave me her angel food cake recipe and then wrote the one for noodles too because if you use the yolks for noodles, you have to make something from the whites, of course. Two dozen eggs make two cups of yolks, which is half the recipe. I was afraid if I made the whole recipe, I wouldn't have to buy any noodles until 2016. 

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Obviously this recipe was just right for the noodle-maker. I managed to get the strips rolled out and the noodles cut without one sticking to the rollers. I made some of them really skinny and some the regular size.

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I had lots of noodles; more than I expected, but I'm certain they will all be used. I let them dry and stored them in freezer bags. I used some for chicken and noodles with mashed potatoes for dinner tonight.

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Plus angel food cake for dessert.
 
As odd as it may sound, I was thinking of life; mine, yours, anyone's, while I was working on this endeavor. Perhaps we have some ideas or talents or dreams we have put in the back of our mental closets because every time we used them in the past, it was a miserable experience, just as my noodle making had been.
Maybe it's time to try again; using a new 'recipe' and just maybe, that recipe is God's word. If we read His directions, we will know what to do, even though, occasionally, they seem to be written in a foreign language. The lumps of dough are useless until they are run through the rollers where they are flattened. They are run through several times, each time being pressed flatter and growing longer. Our lives can be useless lumps of dough or we can allow God to stretch us and some times, even 'flatten' us so we will grow and be useful in the work He has for us.
When I said I was going to make noodles, a friend asked me if it is worth all the work. Some times we are asked if following God is worth it. I think the answer is yes in both cases. After all, the end results are what we are striving for; when making noodles and cakes and especially when following our Lord.
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Grandma's Sugar Cookies

3/3/2014

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I have always liked to bake cookies. That's really not a true statement. I have always baked cookies, but I didn't necessarily like to bake cookies. I think the reason for that was probably it always seemed an effort in futility. I had 5 kids and their friends who really liked eating cookies and no matter how big the batch, they would all disappear in a very short time. (I ate my share, too) Some times I would freeze some of them and hide the package in the bottom of a big freezer. My son, Kirk, was the 'cookie sniffer.' He could find them no matter what kind of container they were in. 


There is one recipe I dearly love to make; and eat, of course. It is my Grandma Grotrian's Sugar Cookies. They hold so many childhood memories for me, and I am usually almost in tears (good tears) by the time I am done. I wrote an article about these cookies and it was published along time ago. I am going to add that article to this post. I hope you enjoy it.


Grandma’s Sugar Cookies

Gloria Doty

The unmistakable aroma of warm from the oven cookies hit me even before I burst through the back door into the kitchen. I had just walked to our driveway down the gravel road from the corner where the school bus dropped me off.  I had been hoping there would be something good to eat waiting for me. To my absolute delight, the round oak kitchen table was covered with big, beautiful creamy- colored sugar cookies.

These weren’t just any sugar cookies; they were the ones as big as saucers and as light as clouds. The tops were covered with sparkly grains of sugar and the lightly browned bottoms had the design of the cookie sheets baked into them. Of all the different kinds of cookies that my mother and grandmother made, these were my favorite!

If Grandma baked these cookies in the summer, she would let me help mix the dough and then roll it out. Then came the best part; I got to hold the short-stemmed glass goblet upside down and cut out the perfect circles. After Grandma carefully moved the delicate circles to a cookie sheet, I was allowed to sprinkle the tops with sugar. I never questioned the use of a goblet to cut them out as opposed to a biscuit cutter; I just thought that you had to use one if you wanted to make sugar cookies. As an adult, I am certain that Grandma used the goblet because it’s top was bigger in circumference and therefore resulted in the large, round cookies.

I have used Grandma’s recipe many times to make the cookies for my children and now for my grandchildren. I always use the goblet to cut the circles and when asked, I always tell the story of my grandma’s cookies and this is the way she made them.

            The last time I made sugar cookies, I was in a bit of a hurry and decided to not bother with the glass goblet. All of my dessert goblets were out of reach at the back of the highest shelf in the cupboard, so I grabbed the biscuit cutter instead.

            I hesitated as I started to cut the first circle, then I sighed and got my step stool. I reached to the back of the shelf and extracted a goblet. I smiled as I cut the cookies and knew that Grandma was smiling, too. I just couldn’t do it any other way. The cookies wouldn’t have been as big and even though I’m sure they would have tasted the same, somehow I knew they would not evoke the same memories as the big cookies always did.

            Now, as a grandmother myself, I sometimes wish that I were able to take my grandchildren to faraway places for wonderful experiences and memories they will never forget, but I know in my heart that the memories which last the longest are usually the simplest and can come from something as simple as cutting out cookies with an upside- down goblet.

           

 





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    Author: Gloria Doty

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