the risk

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For my second try at cranberry muffins, I took a risk. No one in my family besides me seems to like nuts, so I left those out, using them as a topping for several but not all the muffins ... the several I'll eat.

Instead of nuts in the batter, I added apricots and raisins. Halved the white sugar and added brown sugar instead, and sprinkled the tops of some muffins with cinnamon sugar. I have my doubts about the apricots, but we'll see what happens.

It's a crapshoot. Since the ingredients are all pretty good, I don't imagine the muffins will be bad ... but I really don't know. They're cooking as I type and the cinnamon is filling the house with good smells.

Funny how many bowls and cups and utensils I used in the process of making something I think will be pretty good. The sink filled up and by the time I stuck the first batch in the oven, there was quite a lot of dishwashing to do and is done. Lots of care separating this from that before adding it all together in one big, stirred-up glop.

And it reminded me of spiritual stuff, though that wasn't what I was thinking about when separating, mixing, putting in cups and sticking it in the oven. Spiritual life is a risk as well -- a crapshoot of an experiment. If you follow someone else's recipe exactly, it's unlikely to turn out exactly right. If you experiment too much, it's also likely to fail. But without the risk, without trying the apricots in the batter, without risking what had been held in reserve, how can anyone find out?

I just tried one of the first batch ... tasty, although the apricots were a bit weird. I've tried a lot of apricots over the years, so it's no longer really disappointing. It's more like informative when it comes to getting things exactly right.

Onward and upward.
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