Refridgerator Tension

I find myself daily in a personal struggle that I've named Refridgerator Tension. This tension centers around being the "purchasing officer" for the edibles in our household. I find that the fridge serves as a central barometer of how much food is actually available in the rest of the house. When the fridge is full, my family is living in the land of "milk & honey". When it is bare, all other cupboards, freezers, and shelving units seem equally depleted. Having too much in there causes major tension when trying to close the door. However, too little makes my prodigy feel instantly hungrier even DURING a meal. When a gallon of milk is finished I hear, "When are you going to the store?" To which I reply, "NEVER. I suggest you drink s-l-o-w-l-y!"

I personally get this quirky thrill when I discard the cardboard yogurt tray after we finish the collection of yogurts. (At Aldi you can buy them like that.) However, I immediately fear that I'm going to "need" another on soon, so I mentally bump my grocery run to today.....something I don't enjoy.

As I've pondered it, I've realized there are countless tensions related to that large, energy sucking appliance. Here's a few others just off the top of my head...

There's the cost of filling it, and the hassle of emptying it (especially the moldy things in the back). There's cleaning it on the inside, as well as ridding the clutter that accumulates on the top (a definite weakness for us tall people). There's keeping the temp right so the milk doesn't look like slush in your cereal and the ground beef doesn't grow bacteria before dinner.

What about the endless condiments that usually fall OVER when the door opens and often fall OUT because they're too slim to be held in? I often have issues with the mayo not fitting with the mustard and ketchup....nor do all the veggies fit in one drawer separate from the bag of apples. (I've been warned about mixing carrots and apples, but don't remember why.)

My parents had a scare a few years ago when their fridge stopped working and they learned about cleaning off the back coils with a sweeper. Ugh! That clearly involves MOVING the beast, which then exposes the floor. Double Ugh! (I can't refrain from mentioning the dead mouse we found one time.... Triple Ugh with a fur ball on top!!!) You heard me say, "stopped working"? I should then add the financial scare that a normal family experiences if this appliance takes ANY breaks ever for ANY reason. Isn't this the first thing we worry about in a power outage?....okay maybe that's the heat (or A/C), but it sure is a close second if the disruption lasts more than a few hours.

Look at this list of stresses! Aaah! And I didn't even mention the fact that it is THE ICON for overeating (think Garfield!) That adds a whole list if issues and stresses.

My heart is to find peace in the tensions of my life and Refridgerator Tension should be no exception. As I approach our holiday season which too easily centers around food (& then Jesus), I'm aspiring to recycle this tension for thankfulness that I even HAVE a fridge to fill. After all, I live in a land if bigger fridges than ANYWHERE else on the planet.

P.S. Pictured here is a fun marble toy that often causes my son his own version of refridgerator tension.