Taste and See That the Lord is Good

I was sorting through pictures today and came across the 190 Aimee and I took one day this past summer. We got together to make cupcakes, Root Beer Float and Red Velvet…we read the recipes, used the whole bottle of food colouring and invested in red raspberries out of season.

We went whole hog, I guess you could say.

And we had fun. Aimee got out her frosting piper and I couldn’t stop gasping like a lunatic every time she finished another masterpiece.

There was icing sugar everywhere, bowls in the sink, and our bare feet were sticky. It was good. And suddenly Aimee looked over at me and said. "What are we doing this for, anyway?"

I think I said, "Um."

We kind of stared at each other for a second, and I could feel and see the guilt starting to creep in. I mean, what were we doing? Wasting an afternoon? Spoiling our suppers? Just making something because we wanted to gorge ourselves silly?

We started to talk, and it took a few minutes to reach our conclusion…the reason for believing that the day was actually well spent.

It boiled down to the respect we have of pretty things. And a love for the God of them.

On my shelf I have three books right beside each other. 1000 Beautiful Things, The Book of Awesome and One Thousand Gifts. Every single one reminds me of the Gifts we have around us…the very good things. Poetry, new socks and high tens, sunsets and soap bubbles. They remind me just how gracious God is, a God of the little things as well as our Salvation, but (and here’s the crux of the matter) do I always really know this in experience?

My mind tries to know the goodness of God, but all I see when I get up is a dirty kitchen and the clock telling me I’m late for work.

Sometimes I need to touch and taste the life I have, and see it is good in Him – filled with the blessings of pretty. Which brings me back to cupcakes.

Of course, I don’t pretend every day is well used in baking to satisfy your sweet tooth, but maybe it’s a good start to celebrating the gifts we’re given. These things that might seem frivolous, the ‘trimmings’ of life, can sometimes be the best things to refocus our attitude.

With all this in mind…don’t feel guilty if you bake a layer cake on Wednesday. Or wear sparkly shoes. Or fall asleep in the sun.

Just give thanks for these things, the sentient tips of God’s iceberg of Grace.

 ~Olivia