Share Saturday from Melanie
God in the Small Things
Baking is not one of my strong suits but I love to gather my family together and celebrate special occasions. A few weeks ago we were getting ready to celebrate our daughter Amanda’s birthday. I asked her what she would like for dinner. Her requests included brownies with ice cream, strawberries, chocolate and caramel topping. She also offered to bake the brownies herself because she knew that I don’t like to bake.
Although that was a sweet offer, I firmly believe that no mother of three should have to make her own birthday dessert. At that moment it became intensely important for me to bake the brownies myself and do so successfully. That’s just part of the stubborn streak in my personality.
I immediately texted three friends who are great bakers to ask them for recipes. I settled on a recipe from a local university bakery that is famous for its delicious brownies. Who was I to think that I could successfully copy this recipe?
On baking day, I gathered all of the ingredients on to the peninsula in my kitchen and voiced my desire to God. The prayer went something like this. “Father, we both know that I am not a baker. However, Amanda has asked for brownies and it is really important for me to successfully make a delicious brownie for her birthday. Now I know you know a lot about baking, and that with your help this is possible. So bless me to listen and bless the offering that I’m making so that these brownies will turn out and be delicious. By the way I don’t have time to make them 2 or 3 times so I need this to work on the first try.”
I had confidence that because this was important to me He would listen and help me out.
As I went to put the brownies in the oven I felt the distinct impression that I should just set the timer for the amount of time suggested in the recipe. When the buzzer went off I was to remove the brownies and not check if they were done but just trust that they would be okay. This was very counterintuitive to a control freak who usually checks and double-checks anything in the oven. The timer went off and I removed the beautiful fragrant pan of brownies. (Yes I snitched a corner and they were delicious–even if I do say so myself.)
Totally not my doing, remember I am not a baker.
That day God showed love for two of his daughters–for me because I wanted to give a delicious gift to my daughter and also to my daughter because brownies was her heart’s desire. Just one more evidence that God loves to be included in the small things in our lives.