I love the word specificity! Kate had wise observations about how specific a parent feels about each of their offspring, how specific God feels about us, and how in both situations we receive care, concern, and even a kind of love specific to our needs. Despite overwhelming human parental and divine love for each one, that specificity is very individual.
I'm thinking of how generic I tend to get if – for example – someone asks what I want for lunch. Fact is, despite strong food preferences, I'll happily eat almost anything I'm not allergic to. I don't like people to go to excessive trouble or expense for me at home; when we're in a restaurant and someone else is buying, it becomes both wanting to stay in their price range and not wanting to see someone else's order and wish I'd gotten theirs instead of mine (even when we're each springing for our own).
Yet from my experience hosting, cooking, preparing meals for others when we haven't already predetermined the bill of fare, I totally get the crazy frustration of generic rather than specific responses when I ask what do you want? How do you want it prepared? How much would you like? Please, be specific!
If you ask me what I want, fixed how, and how much of it, here are some pictures of specifics that would please me very much. Thank you! Next time when it's my treat, I'd really appreciate specific requests.
Ummm, YUM!!
ReplyDeleteI'd join you for that dinner! I think when we are fussy ourselves, we tend to like others to be specific. When I invite others for a cup of tea, I want them to be specific about how strong, how much milk etc, because I know this is important to me.
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