“Do not use dishonest standards when measuring length, weight or quantity. Use honest scales and honest weights, an honest ephah and an honest hin. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out or Egypt.” Leviticus 19:35-36
It is birthday season at my house. The six members of my nuclear family all have birthdays between September 30th and December 19th, and with the family expansion we now have nine birthdays to attend to in the fall, not to mention the holidays. This, of course, requires cooking and baking, everyone has their own special request with which to honor the occasion of their birth.
Today I am making Praline Pecan Crunch, a very basic cereal mix that sounded good to my adult and pregnant daughter. The fact that anything sounded good to her was a miracle, so I went to the store and bought cereal, a BOGO deal so I came home with two boxes. Good thing I did!
The recipe called for one box of cereal, but as I looked at it closely it also said eight cups of cereal. I’ve made this recipe dozens of times, usually just emptying the box into the mixing bowl, but since it was a birthday treat and I wanted it to be extra-special, I decided to measure the cereal. Not quite six cups. I checked the box and discovered the weight had changed since the recipe was written. The price had not dropped (except for my sale!), but the product was not the same.
I am not suggesting cereal producers are liars, any more than the producers of other household items that have shrunk in size over the years allowing manufacturers to make a profit. I am merely pointing out the ease with which we are duped into thinking something is one way, when it is not. The very concept of truth is being redefined by our society and unless we weigh and measure what we are being sold carefully, our lives, like my recipe, will be ruined.
Oh, I could have made the recipe with six cups of cereal and it would have been . . .okay. Not great, not the best, but it would have passed. Overtime, however, with less and less cereal in the box, the recipe would not work at all because the proportions of the ingredients would not be accurate, they would not be true.
My dad is a builder. At the age of 75 he designed and built the three story house that he currently lives in. He built it with the help of two other men, and when they started the build he bought each of them a measuring tape. They were cutting boards for wall studs one day when my dad began noticing inaccuracy. Several boards were off by an eighth of an inch; they were untrue, the house could not be square. He observed for awhile and finally took one of the other guys aside.
“You need to be more accurate in your cuts,” he told the guy.
The guy just happened to be my husband, one of the most accurate guys I know, next to my dad! The guy insisted he had been accurate, but when they lined the boards up the difference in length was plain.
“Let’s check the tape measures,” my husband insisted.
Three tape measures were extended and, lo and behold, the measures were not the same. Same manufacturer and purchased on the same day, but they produced differing lengths for what should have been the same mark.
Honest weights and measures make a difference. Truth and accuracy matters. When you are raising your children or spending time with grandchildren or interacting with neighbors or colleagues are you honest and truth-full? And what truth do you share? Make sure you have the full measure of truth, as found in the Bible. It doesn’t matter whether you are measuring in ephahs and hins or pounds and ounces or grams and liters, the Bible will help you discern accurate truth from distorted propaganda.
Praline Pecan Crunch
- 8 cups Oatmeal Squares cereal, you will need two boxes
- 2 cups pecans
- 1/2 cup light corn syrup
- 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
- 1/4 butter
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
Heat oven to 250* and grease a 13×9″ pan. Combine cereal and pecans in this pan.
Place corn syrup, brown sugar and butter in a microwaveable bowl. Microwave on high until the butter melts, then stir. Return to microwave for another 30-60 seconds until mixture is boiling. Giving you accurate times here is difficult because microwaves vary. Once the mixture is boiling, stir it and add in the vanilla and baking soda. Stir and pour over the cereal mixture. Stir to coat as evenly as you can.
Bake for 1 hour, stirring the mixture every twenty minutes to ensure each piece is coated with the syrup. Pour cereal mix on to parchment paper to cook, breaking it into small pieces. Store in tins for as long as it lasts!
