"The Lord gives sight to the blind." ~
Psalm 146:8
Shannon glanced nervously at the kitchen
clock. Five minutes before midnight.
They should be home any time now, she thought as she put the
finishing touches on the chocolate cake she was frosting. It was the first time in her 11 years she had
tried to make a cake from scratch, and to be honest, it wasn't exactly flawless.
It was lopsided. And the frosting was bitter, as if she’d run
out of sugar. Which she had!
And then there was the way the kitchen looked. When she’d noticed her kitten licking cake mix
off the counter, she reached to push her away knocking a mostly-full egg carton
to the floor. The slimy puddle it
created wasn’t even the worst part!
Imagine a huge blender filled with all the ingredients for
chocolate cake – including the requisite bowls, pans and utensils. Now imagine that the blender is turned on . .
. high speed . . . without a lid. Get
the picture?
Shannon tried frantically to clean up this epic mess but she’d
simply run out of time. A scolding was
coming, maybe even grounding.
But she’d deal with that later. For now, she was anxious for her parents to
return home from their date so she could present her anniversary gift to them. She turned off the kitchen lights and waited eagerly
in the darkness.
Her parents tried to slip quietly in the back door, but Shannon
would have none of that. She flipped on
the lights and trumpeted: "Ta-daaa!" She gestured dramatically toward the kitchen
table, where a slightly off-balance two-layer chocolate cake awaited their
inspection.
The two stood speechless.
The kitchen was a disaster. Mom
felt a tear form in the corner of her eye.
It’d be easier to burn the house down and start over, then to try and
return it to its original charm.
Shannon didn’t know whether to cry, or run.
When Dad moved to hug his sweet child, he slipped on the gooey
eggs still pooled on the floor, getting his suit white and sticky in the
process. Mom tried to suppress giggles
but quickly burst into hysterical laughter.
Dad let out a deep belly laugh as Mom joined him in the gloopy
mess on the floor. Shannon smiled. She’d created something, a veritable phoenix
of flour and sugar rising out of the kitchen clutter. And
given two parents an anniversary they’d not soon forget.
That's how God deals with us. We try to do something good in life, but it
turns into a mess. Our marriage gets all
sticky or we insult a friend, or we can't stand our job, or our health goes
sour. And He picks us up (again).
Loving
God, sometimes we just stand there in tears because we can't think of anything
else to do. That's when You pick us up
and love us and forgive us, even though some of our mess gets all over You. Thank You – for turning messes into
triumphs. Amen
