The Bakers Balancing Act
Let’s pretend I was known for making THE BEST pumpkin spice cookies with a melt-in-your-mouth maple glaze. And let’s say you wanted to impress your new in-laws with some festive baked goods at thanksgiving dinner this year. The glitch? You’ve got two left feet in the kitchen and you have no idea the difference between a whisk and a spatula. But—you’re willing to learn, so you ask me (the master chef) to let you borrow my famous recipe.
However, just like most famous bakers, my recipe somewhat resembled a ancient treasure map. The treasure is the mouth-watering, ultra impressive cookies. How to create such a masterpiece had yet to be discovered through all the master chef lingo. How many teaspoons is a, “pinch of salt?” Was is really necessary to sift the confectioners sugar? (And why such a fancy name for a simple ingredient like powdered sugar??? #hadtolookitup #newbiebakerhere) Since you don’t know me that well, you don’t want to bother me with your amateur questions, so you just give yourself a little pep talk.
Deciding yourself a fully capable adult, (and armed with YouTube just in case...) you set out to the store to gather the ingredients. Baking might not be your forte but shopping sure was! You easily maneuvered the tall rows of baking supplies with your squeaky cart and managed to leave the store with only a few extra snacks. “Reesie‘s cups will help me bake,” you absently tell yourself as you stare at your cart full of flour, sugar, eggs, cinnamon, maple syrup, and all the things.
Your confidence was boosted as you unload the groceries onto the kitchen counter. You can now breathe a little easier because you have everything you need. All the ingredients are accounted for. The kitchen is clean, you crank up some Air Supply to set the mood, and you roll up your sleeves.
Not more than 30 minutes later, the kitchen looks like the aftermath of a tornado... or maybe more like a flour dust storm. Your dance moves have lost their gusto, and you are covered head to toe in that don’t-inhale-unless-you-want-to-choke confectioners sugar! Defeated, you toss the despised recipe of jibberish into the trash and sink to the floor with your half-empty Reesie’s bag & a “how to separate the yoke from a egg” YouTube video.
Let’s pause the story for just a sec. You poor dear! Can we all agree that baking is not for the faint of heart? And even harder if you don’t understand or misread the recipe? I actually don’t like using recipes, but I also see the need for them. After all, you don’t just wake up with the knowledge of how to make a new recipe and know it by heart. That’s why having a fool proof recipe can come in handy!
In the slightly exaggerated story above, we see how crucial it is to have the right measurements. In the story, you had all the right ingredients. You had all the tools you needed, but something was missing. And that something was balance. The recipe would simply flop if you added 5 eggs and only a half a cup of flour. Did the ingredient list have eggs and flour on it? Yes! But the delicious cookies cannot be made without the right amount of each ingredient.
Are any lightbulbs going off in your head yet?? Good, because here’s where the analogy comes in. As Christians, we might have everything we need for a overflowing life. We have all the resources. We have our Bibles, a church family, nature, sermons just a click away, etc! But often times, we feel like we’re still missing something. Maybe it’s the relationship. If you would have known me better in the story, you could have called and I would have walked you through the process of cookie baking. But on your own, we can all agree, you made a mess of things.
Maybe it’s the balance of ingredients. Maybe a couple minutes a day of Bible reading is not going to fill us up. Maybe prioritizing devotion time as opposed to scrolling time is where it’s at. (I’m literally calling myself out in this post *headdesk*) Maybe the ingredients call for love, joy, and peace but we don’t know how to live them out in our lives in practical/daily ways. Maybe we get distracted by what other bakers are creating that we feel less-than qualified to even try our hand at it. Maybe we blame the recipe or the One who gave it to us.
Maybe our life is so messy that we don’t even have time to decipher the ingredients for a overflowing life. Are the maple glazed cookies really worth all the blood, sweat, and tears? (Um, yes! If you’ve ever tried my mom’s cookies, they are 100% worth it!) But let’s wrap up this little funny-turned-deep story with this:
You might not have all the answers or know the big picture, but don’t give up on your quest to live the life you were created for. You have a unique purpose that only you can fill. You have a Savior who did a lot more than pull a few stings to give you a inheritance—He gave his life for us. And He so wants for us to come to Him.
To ask Him our questions (not mater how trivial they seem to is.) He wants to give us good gifts and healing from pain. He wants us to accept His love and forgiveness. And it’s our choice how we will respond. We might have all the ingredients, but are we striving to prioritize them in the right order?
Thought's on this lil' story?
Comment below and I'd love to hear them!
Many Blessings,
Brooklyne Elysse
