Life In My Father's World: The Sugar Cookie Saga

The Sugar Cookie Saga
Broken Cookies Are Useful and Wonderful!

I had a wonderful plan! It was only a small part of my Christmas goodies plan, but I fully expected it to be a spectacular part of the table. I imagined the little pies stacked neatly on a lovely tiered stand, filled with chocolatey goodness. It would be wonderful, just like I planned. (Recognize those famous last words?)

I started my plan from the ground up, or crust up as the case may be. I divided up the sugar cookie dough into small pecan-size balls, coated them with sugar and pressed them into the tiny muffin tins. They looked just perfect.

Sugar cookie stubbornness.

The trouble started in the oven. They mushroomed out far beyond the limits I had discussed with them, but finally settled into a reasonable compromise. I am a seasoned baker, so I knew they would need to cool slightly so they wouldn't fall apart coming out of the tins.

After a few minutes, they were cool enough to touch, so I began the careful surgical extraction of my little sugar cookie pie crusts. The first one put up a fight, but these things happen even to the most seasoned bakers, so I persevered on to number two. This little guy fell apart too. So did numbers three, four and on and on. Apparently in the oven, they cooked up a conspiracy.

No pie crust here.

Rather than give up entirely (after all I had a Christmas goodie table to prepare and I am a seasoned baker) I implemented plan B. I took the little conspirators and pressed them into a glass pie dish to form a single pie crust. They weren't having any of it. With that many holes in any "crust" I could read the "this is going to be a mess" writing on the wall. Time for this seasoned baker to find a plan C.

Sometimes rather than force my plan to work when it obviously isn't, I have the wisdom (sometimes) to go with what is working (sometimes.) I have sixty years under my belt and wisdom does pop up sometimes. This time I sought it out, and found it waiting right under my nose, well, on my kitchen counter.

They are sugar cookies, an unruly lot, but sugar cookies nonetheless. The chocolate mousse, and whipped cream awaited their company. So, I layered the crumbs, mousse, and whipped cream into a clear glass bowl and topped it with some more crumbs and chocolate hazelnut star cookies. It was lovely and delicious.

~ What God taught me in this process ~

Be Patient.

When explaining the gospel, or encouraging someone in the faith, I must be patient.

They have a place in the kingdom, and I can't push them into my preconceived notion of where that might be, or bully them into submission.

We are all a little broken.

Persevere.

Don't give up when it seems your plan might be futile.

Even if they resist, try again.

Even the most seasoned have to learn new ways of completing the task,

especially when dealing with brokenness.

Pray.

Even though I may be seasoned in teaching and encouraging others in the faith,

God may have a plan that I might not have considered.

He gives wisdom to those who ask.

Point to Him.

The project did not have to be my vision of tiny bite-size pies to be successful.

It was completely successful as one big bowl of chocolatey goodness

with sugar cookie crumbles and whipped cream deliciousness.

He uses my brokenness, and yours too, to make us beautiful and fruitful,

even before we see the outcome.

Dear Father,

Thank You for your patience with me as I try to do things my way so often. Thank You for loving me enough to place adversity in my path, so I will learn to persevere and look to You even more. That will always be my ultimate goal ~ to draw nearer to You.

I ask that You give an extra dose of patience and perseverance to me and the one reading this right now, that we will remember to both call upon You and point others to You even in the midst of our struggle.

I pray in Jesus' name,

Amen.

What is your struggle today? Can you (will you) apply this to your circumstance? Have you found this to be true in your walk? Please leave your comment below. It might be the encouragement someone needs today!