Pressure

 

My son and daughter-in-law got me an Instant Pot for my birthday and Mother’s Day presents rolled into one. It’s an imposing thing, reminding me somewhat of the round bread maker I had some years ago that looked like R2D2, only this is a different color with no clear dome on top.

I often give my mechanical and electrical things names. For instance, my computer is TheaJane while the printer is Mabel (after a dear aunt who could talk the ears off a doorknob, every word worth hearing). If my machines misbehave or break down, the name is usually a word I won’t use here because it would offend a friend who has a donkey to whom we refer a lot in our EfM class. This new widget is too new to have earned a name yet, although I’m tending toward Darth since it scares the bejabbers out of me.

I’ve used electric frying pans, microwave ovens, electric grills, toaster ovens, panini grills, electric can openers, crock pots (slow cookers), and a few others, but Darth is in a class by himself. Darth cooks, sears, steams, makes yogurt, stews, and more stuff I can’t remember. It does, in addition, acts as a pressure cooker, and therein lies the fear factor. I have never used a pressure cooker, although Mama used one occasionally. Unfortunately, she died before she could teach me how to use one, and I don’t know whether to be grateful for that or not. My son, however, has embraced the technology wholeheartedly and has joyfully used his for the past several years. I feel like a bit of a lousy mother to have to ask my son how to use one now. He’s become a kind of evangelist on the benefits of using his Instant Pot almost daily. I’m feeling a bit of pressure to take the step – after I read the book I bought to tell me how to use the thing without blowing up the house.

I was actually only joking about my son being an evangelist for this kind of cooking. He doesn’t get enthusiastic about culinary things very often. But, since he does most of the cooking in his house, I tend to listen to what he has to say. I’ve had contact with many kinds of evangelists in my life, so I tend to pick who I listen to as well as the subject they’re recommending, whether it’s an appliance, a philosophy, political stance, financial investment, diet, or religious belief.

The word “evangelize” causes me to react much as the word “pressure cooker” does. I understand what it means, and how it works, and that it can be a very beneficial thing. Jesus didn’t know about pressure cookers, but he did know about evangelism. It was his stock in trade, so to speak. He was earnest and honest, interesting to listen to, and interested in listening to others. He had a message to sell to the world, but he didn’t use the pressure tactics we see now. He could be scornful to those who refused to accept his message, but he would turn to others who were more receptive. It was more persuasion than coercion. But, of course, he died because of pressure, a fear that he was a threat to not only the empire but the Temple, its structure as well as its hierarchy.

We’ve had our share of pressurized politics. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to go away. Pressure is the mechanism to convince followers and skeptics that red is green and the loser is really the winner. The current government will take everyone’s guns away and, by the way, their hamburgers and beefsteaks, and any number of dire consequences.  I hear that social justice is socialism in very thin disguise, and the more that is given to the poor, the less the rich will get, and that isn’t the way God wants it. Is this the message that Jesus brought us? 

Something that has been running through my brain with all the thoughts about pressure is that nothing ever changes without some form of it. So when is pressure good, and when is it destructive? It may be suitable for making a fantastic boeuf bourguignon, but how much does a concept, ideal, or even a necessity need to make a beneficial and change to a mode of thinking in line with the teachings of Jesus?

Sooner or later, I will get the hang of this new (to me) way of cooking, but will I ever be able to see what is right and good through what amounts to what I could see while trying to look through the pressurized water coming through a fire hose right in front of me? Yes, I know that prayer, Bible reading, listening to wise preachers and theologians, and simple faith answer the question. Unfortunately, for years, I followed the wrong ones. It was pressure to understand the Bible one way and quote specific verses in a literal manner to prove that this particular thing was sinful. At the same time, another one approved of something else that is now almost universally condemned.

Some of the things that changed my perspective nearly 180-degrees felt (and still feel) a bit like I am under that fire hose, while others came as gently and gradually as a stream gently flowing into a pond. I still may  be wrong about some things, but I don’t feel the pressure so much any more. I guess maybe I’ve surrendered to God, and if I feel resistance to something, I don’t let the pressure get to me. Instead, I think, read, listen, and pray about it, and then just let God take over. It saves me a lot of headaches.

Now to turn Darth over to God – and the stuff I’m reading in the guidebook on how to use it. Today boiled eggs, tomorrow boeuf bourguignon.