I don't bake. Now there is a reason for that and the reason is simply--I'm bad at it. Like really, really bad at it. I knew this when I decided that it would be a fantastic idea to try making a homemade pecan pie. After all, what could go wrong? I mean, the recipe I found didn't look that hard. All I really had to do was follow the directions. So that's exactly what I set out to do. I mixed my filling together excitedly and slowly stirred in all the pecans. Everything was going great so far. Then I reached for the frozen pie crust and noticed that it was sitting in a tin foil pan, and I wasn't sure what to do with that. Assuming it probably didn't matter either way, I opted to take the pie crust out of the foil pan and just place it on a baking sheet after I poured the filling in. I figured if anything spilled over, at least the baking sheet would be there to catch it. (I am aware that this was not my smartest moment ever.) But I was doing so great at following the directions, surely nothing would go wrong and nothing would spill over. Let me assure you--there is a purpose for that foil pan the pie crust comes in. And you should always, always leave the crust in the pan. My perfect pecan pie had probably only been baking about five minutes when I turned on the oven light to reveal disaster. Cue my panicked gasp and rush to pull the pie out of the oven. The crust appeared to have melted and completely flattened, allowing all of the filling to spill out. Without the foil pan holding the crust in place, it wasn't going to be able to stand firm in the heat of the oven while it cooked. Unfortunately that is the end of my sad pecan pie story, as I have decided that next time I will simply go to the grocery store and pick one up. However, as I stared at the gooey mess of filling and melted crust, I also realized that I could learn something from this pecan pie. You know, something besides the lesson that I shouldn't be left to bake alone. I learned that sometimes in life I can place my focus in the wrong places. And when I place my focus in the wrong places, I can lose sight of what matters most. You see, I became so focused on my pie filling and making the perfect pecan pie, that I actually failed to focus on my crust, which was the most important part. Without the crust being taken care of properly, everything else inside was going to fall apart. Sometimes I do that with God. And I'm not the only one. The story of Mary and Martha is a popular one and I have read it over and over again. We can find it tucked between the text of Luke 10:38-42. If you're not familiar with the story, allow me to recap it for you. Jesus was coming over to Mary and Martha's house. Now if Jesus was coming over to my house, I probably would've gone into the same mode of serving that Martha defaulted to. She quickly set to work making sure everything was in place for Jesus and she set her focus completely on just serving Him. Meanwhile, Mary sat at the feet of Jesus and chose to just be with Him. She knew she could serve Him later, but for now her focus needed to be in the right place--simply being with Him. This irritated Martha because she was already worried and stressed out. Because when our focus is in the wrong place at the wrong time, worry and stress can abound. What did Jesus tell her? He gently reminded her that she had her focus in the wrong place and that indeed the only thing she needed to focus on at that moment was exactly what Mary was doing. Serving Him is important, but she had it mixed up in the wrong place, because she allowed her work to come before her Savior. I mix it all up too. I mix up my priorities and I mix up my focus. Just like I did with my pecan pie. I can constantly focus on serving Jesus and doing for Him, but then I take my focus off the most important aspect of serving Him--my relationship with Him. They go hand in hand. Your relationship with Him and your service for Him. Next time I become more focused on other things and lose sight of what matters most, I'm going to remember what I learned from failing at my pecan pie. And I'm going to remember that if my focus is on my relationship with Jesus, He is going to hold everything else in place. I hope you can remember that too. We've been playing the waiting game for what feels like forever. Waiting for next week or next year. Waiting for a new job or a new house. For a relationship or someone to love you. For a time when you're older or things aren't so busy. For summer or for winter. For an event you're excited about or for a dream to finally come true. Constantly waiting. And the sad thing is, the majority of us waste our lives waiting for that adventure to come along or that dream to happen. We waste our lives thinking "someday" I will do this or "someday" I will do that. And then we spend our days trapped in "what if's," looking back on the days that went by and wishing for them back. It is like a game of either looking ahead or looking behind. We rarely stop to look around. But you see, the secret that most people don't realize is that....today is an adventure too. Waiting for the day when things slow down or when you finally grow up, is wasting the adventure you are right in the middle of at this moment. For 2019 my word of the year has been "breathe." And because of that I have been taking purposeful time to just step back and look around--embracing where I'm at during this moment. And that's when I realize what an adventure I'm living right now. I was a little girl with a wild imagination (yeah, I was crazy), and I yearned for adventure. I longed for the opportunity to do something great. To solve a mystery, to experience something amazing, to publish a book, to speak on a stage in front of hundreds, to go somewhere new. But I always thought "someday" I will get to do those things, but not today-- today couldn't possibly be an adventure in the middle of so much ordinary. But let me look into your eyes and motion for you to come closer as I whisper this truth to you: Someday isn't guaranteed. Tomorrow is not promised. What if today is the only adventure you have left? The thing is, I look at today now and I realize what a beautiful adventure it really is. What an adventure it is to look at each moment as the moment that God could use you to change someone's world or to impact someone's day. I was 16 and 17 when I wrote my first published book, and it was because I finally chose to take today and realize God wanted to use me right then, not "someday." According to the world, I should've waited until I was older and had better experience. But guess what? The world really doesn't know much at all. According to God, my adventure was waiting for me already. What adventure could you be missing out on today by looking back on yesterday or wishing for "someday"? What book could you have written? What story could you have told? What drawing could you have painted? What song could you have sung? What trip could you have taken? What moment could you have stepped into? What friend could you have inspired? Oh, and, dear heart, don't miss out on the priceless, little adventures of every day life either. For they truly are an adventure beyond what you can imagine... Watching the sunset with someone you love. Taking a walk with your siblings and laughing at who can make the funniest face. Going out for donuts at almost midnight (admittedly one of the best adventures ever). Singing music as loud as you can into your microphone (which is technically a hairbrush, but it still counts. Admit it, you've done this at least once in your life). Sharing words of encouragement that could inspire someone else towards greatness. Being a friend to someone and changing their life. These little adventures are what make up our lives. They are the adventures God gives us every day to whisper "I love you," to us. Don't you see? God is so crazy about us, that He gives us these amazing little adventures that are right in front of us every day. We just have to search for them instead of searching for "someday." We have to take the time to stop, look up from our phones or our busy schedules and breathe in this moment. Every time we stop to embrace the adventure God places in our present moment, we can whisper back to Him, "Thank You, I love You too." Today truly is your adventure of a lifetime. Embrace it. And now I'm going on an adventure (donuts might be involved)....who's with me? I recently saw someone I know and they were trying to figure out which twin I was. (Yes, I have a twin, and yes, we look alike.) While they're trying to figure it out, I'm talking constantly like I always do. Finally they said, "You're Bella, because you're talking so much." I laughed, but they weren't wrong. I do talk a lot. And because I talk a lot, I always have someone that I'm going to for advice or to rant or to talk through a decision. Outside of my family, these people are probably my circle of closest friends. I go to these people for wisdom, advice, and encouragement. But sometimes I can go to them in the wrong order. Because you see, sometimes I can rush to the people I think can help me when in reality, I'm neglecting the One who holds all the answers. Recently I did an object lesson with teenagers about prayer. The object lesson went something like this: I handed two of them a piece of paper with scissors. I then showed them my paper which had been cut in a specific way to look like an "s" almost. (No, I'm not that smart, I learned how to do it on YouTube). I told them that they had to duplicate what I had done without the instructions. However, they could ask anyone in the classroom for advice on how to do it. They first tried to get it on their own, but when they quickly realized that they couldn't figure it out, they began to ask each other for help. Well, none of the other students knew how to do it either. Finally, at the point where they were ready to give up, I asked them, "Who do you think you should've asked for help?" Suddenly they all got it. They should've asked me. I knew how to do it. I knew where they needed to make the cuts in the paper in order to do it right. But they were so busy trying to figure it out that they forgot I had the answer. Oh, how easily I do that with God. So easily I can become so caught up in trying to do better and get all the answers on my own that when I need help I first run to everyone else but God. I go to others to ask advice instead of first seeking my answers in His Word. I talk and talk to people instead of meeting Him on my knees. I forget the One who has the answers because I become distracted by my own ways of thinking that I know what to do or how to find the answers. And I can miss so much when I do that. So my question for you is simply: Where do you rush to when you need help or encouragement or advice or strength? Where do you go? Do you go to God for everything before you go to anything else? Of course He often speaks to us through others and the people He places in our lives can give us lots of good advice, encouragement, and help. But if I put them before Him, I'm missing the point. I want to rush to God first because I know that He holds all the answers. I know that He is One I can trust above all. Let's make Him our first priority before anything else. |
Archives
October 2019
Categories |