The Lady Who Bakes Cakes

I saw her status again. She had baked another one... for Brenda this time. A carefully decorated guitar with detailed fondant features and a beautifully glazed surface. Could I make a cake like that? Perhaps... with a lot of practise. I do enjoy art myself. However, I have not been called to be a cake decorator nor to spend much time in the kitchen. My sister, who grew up beside me making luscious cinnamon rolls at the age of 11 and working as a manager at a Mennonite restaurant by the age of 18, knows full well that I don't have the inclinations or giftings for such a role. But I love that some of my friends do. 

You see, cakes, cinnamon rolls, and buffets have blessed many people on many an occasion. I am utterly grateful that God uses different people in various ways to run this world and establish His kingdom. I do believe that any small thing such as making cookies, doing the laundry, cementing a walkway, or framing a house (ok, that one's not small) are perfectly holy things when done to the glory of our Creator. 

Please have a great weekend and keep doing dishes, running excavators, mowing lawns, hunting deer, sweeping floors, milking cows, cleaning bedrooms, fixing tires, teaching Sunday School, scrubbing grass stains, doing schoolwork, and making breakfast with Your eyes on the One who called You. 

Oh yes, and I should probably order the yearbooks. 🤔

He Won't Give Up

Psalm 62:1-2 "For Zion's sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and thy salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth. And the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness, and all the kings thy glory: and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord shall name."

And here we sit, wounded, broken people. This morning I am going to talk to my students about bubbles. They don't know it yet, but they will at 9:10 a.m. when the singing is over. I am going to draw a large bubble on the blackboard with a person inside. We will add thoughts and feelings to that person's bubble and it will represent their inner world. You see we all have one. A world where there is pain and hard things and also joy and happiness. I want my students to remember that about everyone around them. We really should all have a "handle with care" sticker on us. Especially the toughest and strongest among us. They especially need people to love a little harder and listen a little more carefully. When it comes down to it, we all need a lot of loving, caring, healing, mending and delivering.

Many people come into our lives. Some are safe and loving while some are hurtful. Some stay awhile and some merely dance in and back out. Each serve a purpose I do believe. But what if there were more of the healing kind? The ones that love when it's the hardest and stay when it would be easier to walk out? What if they would hold on in prayer when they see your lamp is dim and praise you when they see you need some encouragement? The world has enough darkness of it's own without those of us who are Christians adding more. Yet we are all imperfect. We all make mistakes and we all hurt others. 

And we must fall back on the only One who doesn't. He will find you, when you are at the end of your rope. He will rescue you when no one else can. He will heal your heart when you think it's past deliverance. He will love you when you are unlovable. And He will make you new and call you by a new name.

Lift your head, morning is coming, there's more to the story. He's not finished yet. ❤️

"And they shall call them, The holy people, The redeemed of the Lord: and thou shalt be called, Sought out, A city not forsaken." Isaiah 62:12

Pink With a Purpose

I love the colour pink. In fact, if I wish to have a cheery day, a pink outfit will do wonders. I believe there are more souls traversing this earth that have certain colours that fit them specifically. A colour that appears in their wardrobe, on their cars, in their drawings, in their washcloths, and on their bedroom walls. 

Mine has limits. I simply refuse to drive a pink car with tacky flowers on its side, wear hot pink socks, don a blossoming pink jacket, or use a glitzy pink backpack. There is more to life than pink. 

As I think about favourite colours and how they colour our life, I also think about the topic of moderation. Too much of a good thing is too much! 

We all know that eating only sugar-laden, crispy, chocolate bars for an entire day would lead to a bad end. On the other hand, eating only nutritious, beautiful, round green peas would also lead to a bad end. Somewhere there must be moderation. 

I am still young (according to some people's standards) and old according to others. 😏 However, I have lived long enough to see a few patterns in this thing called life and the people that inherit it. 

We as humans tend to richochette to extremes. For example: "My mother was tight-fisted, I'm going to enjoy life. This person delves off into a new life and pretty soon there is a collection of expensive items accumulated in their house, show-casing their lavish life-style and quickly descending bank balance. Or someone may say, "I'm sick of people being apathetic around me, I want to make a difference." Off he or she goes to try a grand venture without any foresight or forethought and quickly ends in disaster. 

A friend of mine once commented that he believes we need to stop this extreme sway of one generation going far left and then the other one reacting and going far right. I have thought about this some and come to the conclusion, actually conviction, that the only way to stop this is if we become absolutely convinced that the Word is truth. I know this is an old and obvious statement, but if we would become more concerned with following the actual than correcting other people or doing a better job than our parents, I believe we would see a phenomenal shift in today's generation. Instead of confusion, there would be clarity. Instead of rebellion there would be wise questioning. Instead of uncertainty, there would be vision. We would become grounded and solid in truth instead of reactionary volcanoes!

Nobody can choose what they are handed, but everybody has a choice in how they will receive and work with it.

‭‭Colossians 1:9-12 ESV

[9] And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, [10] so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; [11] being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy; [12] giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.