Lessons, lessons…

The solitude of being a mom holds in itself the supreme opportunity for either the formation of meekness or carnality, day after day, and moment after moment. And one minute you finally feel as though you’ve obtained a measure of meekness, and the next you feel as though you grabbed meekness by the shirt collar, shook it, and chucked it out the window! And then there are those moments when you have every reason to let the carnality have its way, but instead you lean into the grace of God and choose the way of kindness… and oh, those moments are so valuable to the Lord. At times His pleasure over me in those moments make me laugh at how often I preferred the public pat on the back from a man or woman of influence to feel valid. It’s not as often as I want it to be yet that I experience that kind of awareness of His gaze, but I know there’s gold to be had in eternity when I cooperate with His grace.

Triumph

As I mentioned, this weekend was set aside to test my skills and guts in the task of doing a little cake decorating for two separate birthday events. I came away from the experience having learned a great deal, and now have incredible energy to continue to perfect this hobby with the intention of turning it into a trade. Although, I still find it  hard to believe that people do this for a living!  This has to be one of the most enjoyable things I’ve put my creative eye and hand to in a long time. Truthfully, I found myself shrieking with delight and beaming with pride throughout the whole process.

I can’t say it was easy- far from it. In fact, the two separate projects each required three days in order to be perfected both in flavor and beauty, so not only am I learning to hone a skill, I’m also learning how to dial down, take my time, and enjoy each moment as it comes and goes without feeling as though I have to prove something by rushing to the end. My husband can tell you how rare that is for me to say.

It was when I was pouring cupcake batter into a pan on the second day, that I realized I had to slow down. It was as if the Lord was reminding me I was not in a race, my “deadline” was only a goal, and that the whole point of this project was for fun. Suddenly I was methodically scooping batter deeply engaged in prayer, and telling the Lord about all the gratitude that was in my heart for allowing me to do this. I pray often, but I haven’t prayed like that in a while. It was such a sweet time…. literally.

At the end of the weekend, I came to bed after editing the pictures Zack took of me, and sighed “That was so fun!” My feet were throbbing from the shocking lack of sitting I had done for three days, the muscles in my back felt as though they were on the brink of collapse, I had a blister on my finger from chopping chocolate, and sore triceps from kneading fondant, but for the first time in a long time I felt so proud of myself.

So… onward and upward. I’m delighted to report a triumphant weekend, and can’t wait to see what comes of all of this.  The pictures included here are just to give you a little taste of the fun I’ve had.