It's a Piece of Cake!...
The saying, “it’s a piece of cake” means that something is easy to do. It’s a simple task and it probably doesn’t take much effort to accomplish. But I’ve learned that much of life isn’t a piece of cake…it’s the process before there’s even a cake to begin with. Baking a cake isn’t necessarily challenging, but it definitely requires more effort than simply eating a piece. We love promise and hate process. We love homemade, but we settle for instant and convenient.
When I traveled to Italy earlier this year, one of the reasons I wanted to take a cooking class was because I knew the Italian culture respected the process of preparing a meal. Nothing is rushed and each course is prepared intentionally and with care for each individual ingredient. When God gives me a visual symbol for something, I do my very best on this side of heaven to find what I can do to place myself in that visual.
For example, when I was struggling with my purpose in Dallas, I identified with the highs and lows of mountains and valleys, so I decided to climb a mountain. Last August, when God gave me the vision of sequoia trees as a symbol of promise, I started researching flights to go see these massive trees. When running became a symbol for endurance and perseverance in faith, I decided to run a half-marathon. And of course with writing Heaven’s Kitchen, there was only one place that made sense to be… the kitchen. For me, these symbols were not just visuals. They were invitations from The Divine to draw closer to Him, not necessarily to understand how He operates, but to understand that the way He operates is intentional and solely for my good.
So, that brings me to my random unexpected post for today. One of my favorite parts of my job is that I get to use my creativity to bring otherwise mundane things to life. I like that I can breathe creativity into ministry. It makes it fun and fresh ...and it keeps me from sitting at a desk all day ...which is exhausting. I decided to bake a cake to post for our college and career ministry’s (UNight) first birthday this month. The cake was made strictly for promotional purposes. It was not made to be eaten at a party or even shared. I could’ve made a fake cake. I could’ve bought a $2 box cake. Shoot, I could’ve bought a cake that was already made. Oh, but the process. Our God loves process. Everything from Genesis to Revelation is part of a process…The process of getting the Israelites into the Promise Land…The process of David going from shepherd boy to King…The process of Mary and Joseph traveling to Bethlehem to deliver a baby boy who would save the world. Waiting for Jesus to come back is a process, too. I didn’t even scratch the surface on the amount of processes there are in the Bible.
The point is, God is not a microwave God. He’s not in a hurry. He’s confident in what He’s preparing. He prepares everything with love, by love and for love. And so I guess, making a cake from scratch makes me feel closer to Him. If He can embrace process, I can learn to embrace it too.
One story that comes to mind is that of Esau and Jacob. I encourage you to read Genesis 25:27-34 in its entirety and draw closer to the God who is no stranger to the concept of process. From the beginning, His children have struggled to trust Him in the process of reaching their destiny. We are known to trade ultimate blessing that comes through process, for instant gratification.
click play for joy
We’ve probably all heard about the patriarchs of our faith- Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And we have a bowl of bean chili to credit for that. You see, Isaac and Rebekah had twins, Esau and Jacob. They literally fought in the womb. Esau was the oldest, an expert outdoorsman who probably would have enjoyed Bass Pro Shops if he lived in today’s world. Jacob was the younger of the two and he stayed home. I can imagine him probably enjoying the Food Network with his mother, Rebekah who preferred him to his older brother, Esau. Although Jacob was quieter, he was not stupid. He manipulated his older brother into selling him his birthright…for a simple cup of soup. In this period of time, when a man died, his oldest son would inherit twice as much as the younger. The birthright was not just a title, it was a blessing, one that Esau didn’t care for in a moment of weakness. He had been working out in the fields and came home to see Jacob had whipped up some dinner. When he asked his younger brother for some, Jacob took advantage of Esau and replied, “First sell me your birthright.” (Genesis 25:31) Esau dramatically responded making the point to question what good was his birthright when he was dying of starvation. Don’t we get a little dramatic in the heat of the moment? We’re so hangry and caught up in the desires of our flesh, that we forget that God has so many beautiful things He intends to give us. The blessing and the birthright were intended for Esau, but his impatience cost him a lifetime of regret. He traded the ultimate blessing for what he could get in that moment…soup. It sounds silly, but how many times has our hunger led us astray? How many times have we settled for instant when we could have had a homemade? How many times have we settled for junk food out of convenience even though we know it’s not remotely beneficial to us? We do this with food, but we also do it with God. The issue isn’t that God doesn’t want to bless us. The issue is our impatience. In a moment of exhaustion and hunger, Esau couldn’t remotely feel the weight of God’s Promise for his future. He only felt his hunger. Esau couldn’t see God’s blessing in his future. All he could see was what was right in front of him- a bowl of soup. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want instant. I want ultimate blessing- made with love, for love, and by Love Himself.