My Mom's Meat Marinade or, MMMM {and why you should Do It Now}

My Mom's Meat Marinade

or, MMMM

For 1 pound of Meat:
3  Tablespoons  Soy Sauce
1  Tablespoon  Dry Sherry
1  Tablespoon  Oil
1  Tablespoon  Chili Sauce
1/4  teaspoon  Ground Ginger
Dash  Garlic Powder -or- 1 clove crushed Garlic

For 6  pounds of Meat:
1-1/8  Cup  Soy Sauce
3  ounces  Dry Sherry
3  ounces  Oil
3  ounces Chili Sauce
1-1/2  teaspoons  Ground Ginger
1/4  teaspoon Garlic Powder -or- 3 cloves crushed Garlic

Mix all together and pour over Chicken.  Let marinate 12 to 24 hours before grilling.

For a more 'Asian' teriyaki flavor, I like to use the Garlic Chili Pepper Sauce.  Heinz Chili Sauce will give it a bit more of an 'American' (read: tomato-y) flavor, and it has high-fructose corn syrup in it...

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Now, if you read my last post, you're probably wondering "Yes, I know you said you're a procrastinator, and that this blog post idea has been nagging you for two years, but really.  What was so hard about sharing a recipe?"

Well, I'd like to invite you into my kitchen and tell you.  Let's sit down and share a glass of Iced Tea...

But first, I'd like to show you the view out my window:

Nothing really spectacular, is it.

But notice that glass bottle sitting there?

It's nothing really spectacular either.

But it's been there for several years.  Almost 6 years, to be exact.  Long enough to start to blend in, collect dust.

Long enough to keep nagging me to "Do It Now."

To really understand why a simple glass bottle keeps nagging me, we'll have to go back further than 6 years, though--all the way back to the years of our early marriage.  

Way back in the early days, T & I were hosting his family for some occasion--I don't remember what.  It was summer, and we were grilling chicken.  I used My Mom's Meat Marinade and his family all really enjoyed it--so much so that they requested the recipe.

Well, this was a 'special' family recipe and we were a bit reluctant to just give the recipe out.  So for Christmas, I gave my mother- and sisters-in-law each a glass bottle filled with marinade and a note telling them I would refill the bottle when it got empty.  And through the years, I did refill the bottles as needed.

Fast forward to early winter 2007.

My mother-in-law gave me her bottle and asked that whenever I was making more marinade, could I refill her bottle, too?  No big hurry, it's wintertime, we won't be grilling any time in the near future, but the bottle is empty.

So I sat it in my windowsill to do it later.

And it's still there.

Now, you're probably thinking, "Well, Carolyn, go fill it up and get it back to her.  It can't be that hard, can it?!"

Aye, there's the rub.

Mom was diagnosed with cancer in Spring 2008 and passed away thirty-two days later.

And the glass bottle still sits in my windowsill, because I procrastinated and didn't Do It Now.

So here is what I really want to say:  Do It.  Don't Wait.  Go Do It Now.

You know whatever it is that you need to do.  Don't Wait.

Reading to the end of this post can wait.  Just go do it.  I'll still be here.

Maybe you need to Thank Somebody, to Encourage Some Young Mother. Or Widow. Or Single Sister.  Or Teacher.  Or Minister.  Go write that note and get it in the mail.

Don't wait--do it now.

Maybe there is someone who is consistently hanging on the fringes of the group, waiting to be noticed, longing for an invitation to be accepted.  Go be that one to Extend The Welcome.

Don't wait; do it now.

Maybe you need to Repair A Broken Relationship.  Go.  Go pick up the phone and make the call.

Don't wait.  Do it now.

Maybe you haven't actually sat down and Talked with your Grandpa or Grandma (or Mom or Dad) lately.

Don't wait.  They won't be here forever.

Maybe you need to just Sit Down with your toddler and Read A Story for the forty-'leventh time.  Go.

Don't wait.

Maybe you need to look your husband or teenager in the eyes and Just Listen.  Do it.

Please, don't wait.  Go do it now.

Maybe it's a Neighbor.  Has it been lurking in the back of your mind that "really, I should invite them to Church on Sunday"?

Don't Wait.  Go Do It.

Because

"We have this moment to hold in our hands,
And to touch as it slips through our fingers like sand;
Yesterday's gone, and tomorrow may never come,
But we have this moment today."

-"This Moment Today" by John & Barbara Tubbs

I know.

Because I have a Do It Now bottle sitting in my window, a constant reminder to this procrastinator to Don't Wait.

Go And Do It.

Do It Now.

I'm speaking from experience; I know that the longer something is put off, the harder it is to do.  I plead with you:  Whatever the Holy Spirit is prompting you that you need to do, go do it now.  Don't wait.

"And when he came to himself, he said, ...

I will arise and go..."

Luke 15: 17a, 18a