Saturday, March 27, 2010

Life's Recipes



I made a cake from scratch. The day I made it God spoke to me through the process. He showed me that my life needs to be lived like a recipe. When I live it each day right, at the end of the day, as I lay my head on my pillow, I should feel good about the day lived out. It should taste sweet or yummy, be filling, satisfying, and complete, with no main ingredients left out.

So Now I am asking God for the recipe, my recipe. I want to live each day on purpose, embracing each moment and be satisfied with each of the precious days he has given me.

"This is the day the Lord has made let us rejoice and be glad in it."

At first I thought..."OK...I can do this...learn a recipe... memorize it and boddabing...fine living!" Then the duh... factor set in. The: nothing is that easy, came into play. 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.' It is a fact that every day's recipe for my life will not, nor should it be, a cake recipe.

My life is a cookbook of recipes. Some of them have gone very wrong. Those batches of cookies, burnt and smelly get trashed, not stored as left overs to rehash on later days. No, rather they are days taken to the cross to be erased and forgiven. Some recipes are tangy with a dash of sweet. Some are days packed with the truth of God....salty, sour, yet some how so good, like a nice yummy dill pickle or a snack of lemons and salt. No sarcasm intended...I really do love both those things...mmm:) Some days are sooo very sweet, like a Chocolate Bavarian Cream pie or an all you can eat do-nut parade. These would be those kodak, precious moments with my kids and my hubby, or days spent with family and friends when just spending time together is the only agenda.

My Point in all this; What is my agenda? What is each days recipe to follow precisely? Imagine a chef in his kitchen, hard at work and play, as he designs with a purpose, with a pinch of this, a smidgen of that, and a few hand fulls of sweetener.... boddabing a master piece (or peace) is born.
This is how I want my days lived.

So how? Where do I begin? By realizing first and foremost that I am not the chef. By following the directions the Master Chef has written for me to know. I follow his lead and tune in my minds radio station on to his voice each morning, afternoon, all day long. Listening and following his directions is what will give each of my days a happy ending.

When I lay my head down on my pillow; on the lap of my Lord each night I want to be comfortable there. I don't want to be squirming like a restless child, nor do I want to be ashamed of the mess I made in his kitchen again. I don't want all those shoulda, coulda, but didn'ts, to haunt my minds peace. So, no matter what, knowing my hands are not his hands, and my ways are flawed no matter how hard I try, I end my day at the cross. I lay it down and no matter how my recipe turned out that day, each day My Lord, and Yours, He loves us. He loves us when we are bitter, sweet and sour, even burnt and smelly. He holds me and assures me he has a new recipe for me tomorrow. A new day to start fresh and clean. With a clean kitchen and fresh new ingredients to work with:) He has a new day for me to live tomorrow. And he has a new one for you too dear friend!

Lamentations 3:22-24

22 Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.

23 They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.

24 I say to myself, "The LORD is my portion;
therefore I will wait for him."



Ephesians 2:8-10
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.