All The Ingredients To Life's Cake 9/10/2016

Good Morning,

Today I woke up to a little rain coming down outside and Door County Apple Cobbler Coffee brewing in the kitchen. The rain is not supposed to last very long and then it's outside for me to  shoot my shotgun at some clay targets. Hunting season is already here and I need to get a little sharper with my shot. The picture below is a cake we purchased recently to celebrate the years of service some of my co-workers achieved.

Life, now there's a subject. In one person's life span each day, each hour is different. There are good days, great days, fair days, terrible days. Mix in those days all the different emotions and feelings one person experiences and you have a kaleidoscope of joy, pain, fear, anger, frustration, excitement, exhaustion, peace and some love.

Life is like a cake. In order for it to be a true cake all of the ingredients have to be mixed together and baked in order to have a cake. Now if my imaginary cake were to be chocolate, the chocolate might taste OK by itself. But I surely would not want to eat a tablespoon of flour and wash it down with some vegetable oil.  But I know that when all the ingredients are mixed together and baked I will have a cake.

In my life I have lived the kaleidoscope experience. It could be called the " The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly". But it was the tough times that led me to appreciate the good things more. I can remember being able to run like the wind and now these arthritic knees need to be replaced. But I sure appreciate those days of old and remember them fondly. But I ran. Some may never experience the gift of running.

Friends life is a cake. And we can wish all we want to that the rough days would not be there, and that is normal for anyone. But they come and some last longer than it seems they should. It's during these times that we have to trust in the Great Baker (God) that two things will be achieved.

1. We can expect that the trials will produce strength and patience.

James 1:2-3
² My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, ³ knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.

2. The second profit to us if we trust in God that He is in charge, knows best and carries us through is Contentment.

Philippians 4:11-13
¹¹ I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. ¹² I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. ¹³ I can do all this through him who gives me strength.

Mixed all together the good and the bad, just like a cake baked in the oven the sweetness will always come through. But the cake has to be baked. Cake that has not been completely baked is just a gooey mess. It has to come through the heat. It is completed in the oven.

Isaiah 48:10

¹⁰ Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver;
I have tested you in the furnace of affliction

I am not sure what today will bring to anyone including me. Some of you might be in the oven of life, or being mixed like a cake and some of you might be eating a great cake today. But I know this. Each day ends and it is all part on one life. Trust in Jesus and some day each day will be permanently sweet.

 

John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whosever would believe in Him would not perish, but have everlasting life.

 

 

Have a cup of coffee and a piece of cake today and celebrate the coffee.

God bless,

Marty