The Birthday Cake

There was a little boy not too long ago that had a birthday. He woke up excitedly knowing what the special day was and like all little boys knew that birthday's meant birthday cake. He eagerly ran into the kitchen where his mother was getting ready to mix his cake. 

   He pulled up a stool and looked over the counter top that was filled with the ingredients to make the cake. He looked at his mother and asked, "where's the cake?" his mother softly laughed and told him, "I have to mix these ingredients and then bake it together." The little boy following the logic that most little boys have responded, "Well cake is sweet and yummy, so are all these ingredients sweet and yummy too?"

   The mother seeing an opportunity to teach her son a simple lesson asked him, "Would you like to taste them and find out?"

The boy nodded his head and the mother proceeded to take the bowl of flour and told him to dip his finger in it and taste it. The boy did so and made a funny face, "this is dry and tasteless!" he responded. The mother nodded and then proceeded to give him the rest of the ingredients to taste.

   As the boy tasted each ingredient his face slowly fell in disappointment. "Mother," he cried, "This cake is going to taste horrible with all this in it!" 

 His mother patted his head and told him to wait, he would see. Later that day as the cake came out of the oven and had a chance to cool the family gathered around to sing happy birthday to the boy. As they handed him his piece of cake he looked at it nervously. He took a bite and looked at his mother in surprise, "Why it's very sweet!" 

His mother hugged him and told him, "The cake is made of many things that are flavorless or bitter when you take them by themselves. But you have to look past the single ingredients to what comes out at the end to understand why you mix them all together."

 

~

 

I had a very dear friend of mine give me this example earlier this week, and it's exactly what I needed to hear. 

Sometimes in life we have one sour or bitter event followed right after another, occasionally we'll have a sweet spot of sugar for a short time before it's thrown into the bowl with the rest of the sour and tasteless. Often times we'll find ourselves looking up at God as the little boy looked to his mother and asking "Lord, why are you allowing so much bitterness and sorrow into my life?"

  But we can't sit here and focus on the here and now and the bitter things happening to us. We have to learn to look ahead and see the final work that God is working in our lives. 

Instead of sitting and complaining about what is happening we should take the advice of what is said in the New Testament in multiple places where it says, "Count it joy." 

"In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith- more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire- may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ."~ 1 Peter 1:6-7

"For I know plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope." ~Jeremiah 29:11

"For his anger is but for a moment, and his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may tarry the night, but joy comes with the morning." ~ Psalm 30:5

"For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us." ~ Romans 8:18

Whatever the trials or hardships you may be going through right now, the rough patches in life hit us all, and I know how it feels. But hold fast and keep hope close! Look not at the now but at the final work that God is creating in the trials here and now. 

God Bless, 

    Ryan