Life Is a Buffet: So What's on Your Plate?

By Polly Boyette

So what's on your plate? Have you piled more on your plate than you can possibly handle? Do you have healthy portions of love, compassion, loyalty, vision and encouragement or, have you allowed unhealthy servings of negativity, broken promises, unforgiveness, and disappointment to fill your plate?

Life is a buffet because it offers a wide variety of new choices every day. You have to make sure to exercise wisdom in your choices, taking great care in what you allow onto your plate. You also serve out of what you take in. That means family, friends, neighbors, co-workers or even strangers are impacted by the choices you make.

In this second book in the "Life is a Buffet" series, "So What's On Your Plate," Polly Boyette uses inspirational humor and real life experiences to illustrate the importance of the choices you make every day.

If you put God first, He will help you to make the best choices to ensure a healthy and balanced life. Remember, the choices you make today will impact your life and the lives of others for years to come.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Apr 27, 2009
• ISBN: 9781440137761

Polly Boyette

Polly D. Boyette is an inspirational author and speaker, using humor and real life experiences to encourage and inspire women in their everyday lives, and to remind them of the joy in serving Christ. She is also the author of "Life is a Buffet So Save Room for Dessert," as well as a contributing author in the "Humor for the Heart" book series. Polly was born and raised in Portsmouth, Virginia and now lives in Virginia Beach, Virginia where she currently serves as the women's ministry group leader for Wave Church, South Beach Campus.

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Life Is A Buffet

So What’s On Your Plate?

iUniverse, Inc.

New York Bloomington

Life is a Buffet

So What’s On Your Plate?

Copyright © 2009 by Polly Boyette

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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ISBN: 978-1-4401-3775-4 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4401-3776-1 (e-book)

iUniverse rev. date: 4/23/2009

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®

Copyright © 1973, 1978, 198 by International Bible Society. Used by Permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.

Scriptures taken from THE MESSAGE are so noted. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.

Contents

Introduction

A Gripping Tale

A Recipe For Disaster

Bake God A Cake

Bittersweet

But Is It Beneficial?

By The Authority

Vested In Me

Camping In Hail

Can You Spare A Dime?

Clean Up Your Act

Creatures Of Day

Counterfeit Biscuits

Do-It-Yourself Project

Don’t Forget The Pie

The Floor Show

The Girlfriends

Going Somewhere?

Going Up?

Gone Fishing

Grumble, Grumble

How’d That Get There?

How To Lose A 100 Lbs.

In Five Days

I Need A Vacation

I Want A Second Opinion

I Won, I Won!

If The Shoe Fits

I’m Dreaming Of The

Perfect Christmas

Is It Hot In Here To You?

Is That Your Natural Color?

It’s Alive!

It’s Fun To Stay At

The Y-M-C-A

Keep Your Eye On The Ball

Let There Be Light

Lip Service

Lost And Found

Measuring Up

The Missing Room

My Apologies

Nurse Robbie Lee

Operation Rescue

Pass The Salt, Please

Popcorn And A Movie

Restored Beauty

Say What?

Serving Out Of An Empty Pot

Sidetracked

Signed, Undecided

So What Are You Waiting For?

Sounds Of Home

Spiritual Makeup

They’re Gonna Blow!

Under Construction

Watch Out For

The Flying Mustard

What’s Shorthand For Help?

What’s That Smell?

Who Needs Cash?

Whoosh!

Wipeout

Wobbly Legs

Your Battery’s Dead, Ma’am

Conclusion

This book is dedicated to my sister, Robbie Lee, for all her encouragement, faith, confidence, love and laughter. She gives me the courage to reach for my dreams and is always pushing me to be the best I can be. Most of all, Robbie Lee makes me laugh louder than anyone else I know, especially when I need it most. This book is the fruit of her support and prayers (along with just a splash of nagging.)

Polly D. Boyette

Introduction

So what’s on your plate? Most of us have large servings of household chores, family life, a busy career, kids, and an extra helping of volunteer commitments to community and church activities. Your busy lifestyle creates sides of stress, worry, disappointment, chaos, and insecurity. Then for dessert you have a huge slice of guilt topped with just a splash of regret.

Have you piled more on your plate than you can possibly handle? Do you have healthy portions of love, compassion, loyalty, vision, and encouragement or, have you allowed unhealthy servings of negativity, broken promises, unforgiveness, and disappointment to fill your plate? Usually you don’t even realize there’s a problem until your plate is piled too high. If you’re not careful, your life can soon become a smorgasbord of unhealthy and smelly dishes.

The purpose of So What’s On Your Plate, the second book in the Life Is a Buffet series, is to illustrate the importance of the choices you make every day.

It’s also important to understand you serve out of what you have taken in. If you have allowed a huge helping of negativity to be slapped down on your plate; then you will certainly dip down into negativity when you serve other people. This means family, friends, neighbors, co-workers or even strangers are impacted by the choices you make.

The short stories in this book use very simple spiritual principles which, when consistently applied, can help you to make better choices. Some of the stories will make you laugh. They will also help you think about your own personal choices in general. What are your priorities in life? Do you realize the impact of your words and your thoughts on others?

I like to say life is a buffet because it offers a wide variety of choices every day. You have to make sure to exercise wisdom in your choices, taking great care in what you allow onto your plate. If you put God first, He will help you to make the wise choices needed to live a healthy and balanced life. Remember, the choices you make today will impact your life and the lives of others for years to come.

A Gripping Tale

A few years back, my sister Robbie Lee and I decided to have the interior of our home painted. A painter was recommended to us, he gave us an estimate and we accepted it. It was a big job and it was going to take quite a while to finish it. On the first day the painter showed up I made sure I was up, dressed, makeup on and hair combed. But after about three days, I just started answering the door wearing my pajamas and robe, no makeup, my hair standing on top of my head and a coffee cup in my hand.

Come on in, I’d say in a sleepy voice.

The painter started to feel like part of the family after a while, but he was very afraid of my two dogs: Nicky, a mixed breed, and my Old English sheep dog, Maggie. They were really harmless, but he said they made him nervous. I could tell he wasn’t used to being around dogs and he just did not trust them. I didn’t want him painting with one eye on the dogs and one eye on the walls so I tried to keep them out of his way as much as possible.

One afternoon we decided to get the dogs out of the house and take them for a walk. The painter was busy painting way up on his ladder in the dining room. Maggie and Nicky were upstairs in another room. When I went up to get them they went crazy, as dogs tend to do when they have been shut up for more than five minutes. Total chaos followed. Nicky escaped and ran downstairs before I could catch him. I heard the painter say, Hey, where did he come from? I yelled down for my sister Robbie Lee to grab Nicky before he scared the painter half to death.

Then I made a very big mistake. I hooked a retractable leash onto Maggie’s collar and we started down the stairs. Before I knew it, Maggie bolted down the stairs, pulling the retractable leash all the way out. She made it down the stairs and turned the corner to the dining room while I was still at the top of the stairs. It didn’t dawn on me to just let go of the leash because I thought I could control her if I held on tight enough. Needless to say, I went tumbling down the stairs, banging into the wall at the foot of the stairs, making a wide turn into the dining room and slamming right onto the dining room table, sliding across the top of it. An Easter lily was on the table. It was a gift for our mom. I grabbed it with my free arm, trying frantically to save it, but I fell off the table onto the floor with the Easter lily turning upside down, spilling dirt all over me.

As I looked up, I realized I had landed right at the foot of the painter’s ladder. He had been watching the whole ugly scene unfold from his high perch and was now staring down at me.

Taking the dogs for a walk? he asked, smiling.

Yes, I thought I would, I answered with a huge sigh. He just laughed and went right back to his painting. I guess he had finally gotten used to our crazy household.

Often we allow wrong relationships into our lives which may seem harmless at first. We think we are in control. We hold on to them with all of our might, believing we are in the driver’s seat, only to wake up one day to find we have lost all control. These relationships drag us through life, instead of propelling us to a higher level. Even though we know we should let go, we continue to hold on until we’re slammed into a brick wall, leaving us broken or weakened and flat of our backs.

Why do we hold onto something we know is wrong with such a tight grip? I believe it’s because we convince ourselves that we cannot do any better. We settle for less than God’s best for our lives. We believe the more abundant life Christ intends for us to have is for someone else more deserving. We become comfortable with old habits, second best, and negative relationships that hold us down. We settle for mediocrity and a lukewarm Christian walk.

Isn’t it time to loosen that grip and let go of the things or relationships you know are bad for you? If you’re going to hold tightly to something, hold on to the promises of God.

Hebrews 10:23 says, Let’s keep a firm grip on the promises that keep us going. He always keeps his word. (The Message)

He has promised never to abandon you, to love you unconditionally, to prosper you and not to harm you. Keep a firm grip on His hand and He will never let go of yours.

A Recipe For Disaster

I don’t usually give dinner parties simply because I get myself all in a dither when I have to cook for my friends. I bring it all on myself. It seems like a good idea at the time. I will get up one day and decide to invite all my friends over and cook a great big meal for them. Then reality sets in and I start bouncing off the walls. Martha Stewart I am not.

One evening I invited just a couple of close friends over for a spaghetti dinner and salad. Spaghetti seemed like a simple dinner to prepare and, for once, I was pretty calm about the whole dinner thing. After all, these were really close friends and there was no need to panic. I was looking forward to a great night of good food, lots of laughs and just relaxing with friends.

I gathered all of my ingredients for the spaghetti and started cooking the meal. Everything was bubbling away on the stove and I went to change clothes for the evening. When I came back, I took the lid off of the spaghetti sauce to taste and see if it needed anything. It was perfect. It didn’t need a thing. I was very pleased with myself. I wasn’t nervous at all and I was ready for my guests.

Just as I started to replace the lid on the spaghetti sauce, out of nowhere, a cricket appeared on the counter and then jumped right into the middle of the pot. I could not believe my eyes. I immediately grabbed a big spoon and tried to fish him out of the sauce, but just as I was about to scoop him up he jumped out of the sauce and started hopping all over the stove, leaving spaghetti sauce behind with each hop. Then he jumped right back into the boiling pot of sauce once again. It was as though he wanted to commit suicide by boiling himself to death. I frantically tried to fish him out of the sauce again, but he resisted my rescue.

I was screaming for help, but all Robbie Lee did was stand back and laugh hysterically. My sister is always a big help in these kinds of emergency situations. She just ran off to her room to get changed before the guests arrived, shouting to me as she exited, You’d better think fast. They’ll be here soon.

After searching around in the sauce with my big spoon for quite a spell, splashing more spaghetti sauce all over the kitchen, I finally scooped up the cricket that, by this time, was pretty well cooked.

I stared at the dead cricket in the spoon and the red sauce splashed all over my kitchen, trying to figure out the chances of something so bizarre happening just before my dinner guests arrived. What was I going to do? I didn’t have time to start a new meal. The spaghetti was boiling away, but the sauce was ruined. Suddenly I wasn’t so calm. Panic began to set in. For a moment, I have to confess, I even considered serving the sauce anyway. After all, they do sell chocolate-covered grasshoppers. Crickets couldn’t be that different from grasshoppers. They’re really just protein. They probably wouldn’t even notice a difference. At most they would detect just a hint of something different about the sauce and would probably beg me for the recipe.

Just then the doorbell rang and I snapped back to my senses. Of course I couldn’t serve the cricket spaghetti sauce. What was I thinking? I ran to answer the door and greeted my friends. I had no idea what I was going to say to them. When they entered the front door, one of them remarked how good the spaghetti smelled. I hesitated for a moment, still struggling with what to say. Finally, I came out with it.

We’re not having spaghetti tonight, I blurted out.

Oh, what are we having? my friend Ralph asked.

I thought we’d just go out to eat tonight, I answered.

But it smells like you’ve been cooking, said Judi, Ralph’s wife.

Well… I did… I mean… I was… well you see…the sauce got ruined and now we can’t have spaghetti, I replied.

Oh, my, did you guys have a fight with the spaghetti sauce or something? asked Ralph, staring at the mess in the kitchen. It looks like it got pretty ugly.

No, we didn’t have a food fight or anything, I answered.

What happened to the sauce? Maybe we can save it, said Judi.

Um …no … you can’t save it. It’s a goner. I said softly. Let’s just go out tonight. It’s a beautiful night and I know some great restaurants. We could go out for spaghetti even.

Hi everybody, Robbie Lee said cheerfully, entering the living room. Did Polly tell you about the cricket that died in the spaghetti sauce? It was hilarious. She was trying every which way to fish that cricket out of the sauce, but the cricket won. He drowned himself right in our spaghetti sauce. Isn’t that funny?

There was silence for a moment while we all stared at one another. Finally Ralph and Judi started to laugh.

Thanks for explaining everything, Robbie Lee, I said sarcastically.

Oh, I thought you had already told them, she said. You should have been here. It was a sight!.

Let’s just go out for dinner, okay? I said, grabbing my jacket.

With that we all headed out for dinner, laughing through the entire evening about the cricket spaghetti sauce. It was one recipe that haunted me for years afterwards. It took a long time to live that one down.

Isn’t that how life goes sometimes? We make our plans, pouring over the details until everything seems to be just perfect and then, Ker-plunk! Out of nowhere, something unexpected happens and ruins everything. We frantically try to put things right, but all is lost. That is why it’s always best to commit your plans to the Lord and include Him in all of your decisions.

Proverbs 16:1-3 says, Mortals make elaborate plans, but God has the last word. Humans are satisfied with whatever looks good; God probes for what is good. Put God in charge of your work, then what you’ve planned will take place. (The Message)

It’s always good to have a plan, but submitting that plan to the Lord will ensure the outcome is successful. If we race ahead without submitting our recipe for life to Him we could find ourselves with a pot filled with bubbling cricket spaghetti sauce. We might acquire a taste for it, but we will soon find ourselves alone at the dinner table.

Bake God A Cake

Making a cake from scratch is not one of my talents; although this small detail never stops me from trying. I’m always ripping new recipes out of magazines or newspapers, especially if I’m in a doctor’s office. I’ll find a great looking recipe and try to discreetly tear it out of the magazine without anyone seeing. Yes, I have sinned by giving into that voice inside me that says, You must try this recipe! It will work this time. You can do it. No one is watching. Just rip it s-l-o-w-l-y and no one will be the wiser. Yet when I follow the recipe it just doesn’t turn out right. My cakes are usually too dry, too runny, too sweet, not sweet enough, too bland or just plain lopsided. There always seems to be something missing from my cakes.

There was one recipe I decided to try that called for using an almond flavored extract as one of the ingredients. I went to the store and bought all the things I needed and immediately jumped in and started putting the cake together. This one is going to be great! I said with a smile. Then, right in the middle of my mixing, stirring, blending, measuring and melting, I discovered that I had forgotten to buy the special almond flavored extract.

As I pounded my head on the kitchen counter Robbie Lee walked in. She’s not a big fan of my cakes and she’s not afraid to express that sentiment out loud.

What’s going on in here? asked Robbie Lee.

I’m trying to bake a cake from this recipe I found, I answered.

Robbie Lee’s face changed from a smile to a look of great concern.

Are you baking this cake from scratch? she asked.

I rolled my eyes and pulled off my apron. Yes, I’m baking it from scratch, I said in a mocking tone.

Robbie Lee hung her head and put her hands over her face.

Oh stop it, I said as I grabbed my purse. You don’t have to eat it if you don’t want any.

Robbie Lee’s sad face immediately changed back into a look of delight. So where are you going? she asked.

I have to go back to the store to get the almond extract I need. I’ll be right back. Don’t touch anything, I shouted as I ran out the door.

Much to my disappointment, the store did not have what I was looking for and I ended up driving to three different places to find the all important almond flavored extract for my cake. When I arrived back home I headed right into the kitchen to finish putting the cake together.

I was hoping you had given up on the whole baking-a-cake idea, yelled Robbie Lee from her chair in the living room.

Shut up! I yelled back. I eagerly finished mixing all the ingredients and carefully placed the cake in the oven. While it was baking I went up and showered because I was covered with flour from head to toe.

When the cake was ready to be served later that evening, I insisted that Robbie Lee try a piece. This one looks perfect, I told her.

She finally agreed to try it, cringing as she placed a bite in her mouth. Hey, this one’s not too bad, she said.

My heart jumped and I anxiously took my first bite. Oh my, I exclaimed with excitement.