As I prepared my ingredients, I was a bit tired, worn out from our busy home school day and the last thing on my mind was to sit down and relax. It was 6 pm and there I went into the kitchen. Okay, there's the milk, Grab that. Oh, the eggs, grab that too. Cornmeal check. Salt check. Everything blended right in. A mixing it will go.
10 minutes into cooking it, I noticed something was wrong with my cornbread. It never rose. 15 minutes later. Nope. After it was done it looked like you could throw them as a frisbie. The kids were not too kind either. I went back to the ingredients on my list. I forgot the baking powder. Just one little thing. I was so upset. We did eat the cornbread. It tasted fine. It was just the way it looked. It wasn't my award-winning (In my head), "Mom, you're the best" comment day for cornbread. I didn't get any praises this time around.
That brings me to my next award-winning (In my head), best tasting Pumpkin Bread. Every year I make a loaf of pumpkin bread. This year I really wanted to make a big pumpkin loaf that tasted amazing. Again, I was tired after a busy day. Our dryer is out of order and we've been making frequent trips to the laundry mat. I wanted to end our night with a treat for the kids. I always pat myself on the back for always having every single ingredient needed to make just about any sweet. Ginger. Check. Nutmeg. Check. Pumpkin. Check. I had two cans. Yay!!! So, I thought I put the cinnamon in. Nope. Forgot that one. 1/2 cup of milk.
I added 1 cup.
It took a little longer to cook. It wasn't the best tasting pumpkin bread I've made, but it will get eaten tomorrow by a pack of wolves.
Let's see if they notice the difference.
So, I guess you can contribute my missing ingredient to my tiredness. But what happens when we truly miss that one ingredient (thing) in our lives? The one ingredient, I mean, the one person who gives us flavor (life). No big deal you might say. One missing ingredient doesn't necessarily mess up the whole recipe. Or does it? What about my cornbread? It didn't look all fluffy. It was flat. It looked hopeless. Lifeless, flat and missing Baking Powder?
The Missing Ingredient?
Well, you can say that next time I won't forget those important ingredients. I can remind myself next time not to make the same mistake I once did. You see, following a recipe is simple enough. All you have to do is read the list and follow. What about following the Lord? Is it as simple as following a recipe? What's included in that recipe? Does it have flavor? Is it made with Love?
God's Recipe for a Long Life
Love
Faith
Hope
There are many times in my life when I begin to doubt the Lord. I tend not to want to Love others when they hurt me or say mean things to me. I begin to lose faith when things don't go my way. This kind of behavior only leads me to miss out on the real blessings in my life.
My Family, My Job, My friends, My Talents.
When we continue to miss out on one of these ingredients, we grow bitter and cold. Lifeless. Flat. Just like my cornbread. We just keep on missing that ingredient. It just becomes a habit. Luckily, just like remembering to add Baking Powder to my Cornbread and Cinnamon to my Pumpkin Bread, we too, can correct those mistakes and add those ingredients back into our lives. It might take some time to remember, but the Lord gives up a Recipe Book. It's called The Bible. It's filled with all sorts of recipes for a long, rich, and fulfilling life.
Pick one up for yourself.
Found at Major Book Retailers and Christian Bookstores.
Oh, and maybe you can find one on your old book shelf or pilled high somewhere to be discovered. Or maybe, it sits in plain sight on your coffee table being read everyday.
I'll leave you with one of my favorite verses from my Recipe Book.
1 Corinthians 13:1-8
If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don't love, I'm nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate. 2 If I speak God's Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, "Jump," and it jumps, but I don't love, I'm nothing. 3 If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don't love, I've gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without love. 4 Love never gives up. Love cares more for others than for self. Love doesn't want what it doesn't have. Love doesn't strut, Doesn't have a swelled head, 5 Doesn't force itself on others, Isn't always "me first," Doesn't fly off the handle, Doesn't keep score of the sins of others, 6 Doesn't revel when others grovel, Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,7 Puts up with anything, Trusts God always, Always looks for the best, Never looks back, But keeps going to the end. 8 Love never dies.
1 Corinthians 1-8
Happy Thanksgiving!
Jennifer Salas
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