Cake Talk

 

Last week we talked about the stove… so today I suppose I’ll continue with that and kind of talk about the oven… more specifically something you would put in the oven. Like cake. Yes, that is it. Today I will talk about cake. We need to be on the same page here with this cake though so think of one of those delicious looking double layer cakes that has icing between the top and bottom cake layer and then icing all around. And there’s probably sprinkles on top… or strawberries… Feel free to use your imaginations on what flavour of cake and icing… actually I may find a picture of a piece of cake like this and post it. For a visual. Basically I’m picturing that slice of cake on the front of the cake mix box… which is NEVER how my cakes turnout…even though I clearly use a mix and pre-made icing…

Cakes. They make me off topic.

Ok ok for real now, Cakes. Here we go. My thought on cake today is that if our emotions were cake, what would that mean? What would that look like? Not sure if I will make any sense or even have a point but this is a thought I am pondering:

Are our emotions a happy cake with peaceful icing? OR Are our emotions a sad cake with angry frosting?

First, Let’s take a look at the happy cake. Would you consider the cake part of your emotions to be made up of ingredients such as God’s love, joy, and forgiveness with a delicious layer of patience and understanding icing on top? To me this seems like the best cake idea out there, the one I would want to pick from the cake recipe book. But this cake can be one of the trickiest cakes to make as obtaining the ingredients of such cake may take some sacrifices and trading. For instance if you only have bitter flour… you’re going to have to trade that in for forgiveness flour. Any ingredient that is old (from your past) that could taint the cake must be surrendered so that the cake will be light and fluffy and durable. It’s a tough cake to make sometimes but sooo worth it.

Now let’s take a look at that sad cake. Many times I see angry people (sometimes myself included) and one of my first thoughts is that they are barely angry, they are mainly sad/disappointed/upset/let down/hurting/etc. Cake-wise, most people know that there is cake underneath the icing. Moreover, emotion-wise your outward emotions can largely just be a distraction from the core emotion that’s upset you. You can’t focus on the icing to figure out what kind of cake is underneath. You can however begin to dissect the cake and figure out what ingredients went into the cake to make it upset: Betrayal, rejection, abandonment, cheating, lies, shame, abuse, loss?

Now there are MANY different ways to look at the many different emotional cakes out there but overall, if you want to learn how to have a better emotional cake you have to figure out what the best recipe is, and that means figuring out what produces a good outcome and what doesn’t. 

Baking questions to ask yourself:

1) What temperature is the cake to be baked at? 

  (Who do you surround yourself with for long periods of time?)

2) What ingredients go into the cake? 

  (Do you throw bitterness, frustration and hopelessness into every cake and hope it comes out different?)

3) Does the flour have to be sifted? 

  (Do you have to sift out any elements of your life to make yourself lighter/more at peace?)

4) What type of measurements are required? 

  (Do you spend more time in a bar by yourself than with people that care about you?)

It’s always easier to have cake that you like, and if you have a say in the matter wouldn’t you want to have a cake that is sweet instead of sour?

Give me a blank stare if anything I’m saying makes any sense.

Or don’t… I can’t actually see you.

This post got out of control. Guess how many times I said cake? NEW RECORRRRD.

Stove Top Pain

As quite often, my inspiration for today's post came from something I saw… and then way over thinking it. I was at a friends house talking with her in the kitchen when she put her hand on the stove top to lean on it and continued talking. She has a flat stove top with multiple burners and she just put her hand directly on it (obviously because it was off) and never thought anything more of it. However, as mentioned, I did think about it and below are the thoughts I came up with, based on my experiences and possibly the experiences of yourself as well. It gave me a different perspective and I thought I might as well share and see if it encourages anyone else.

Now, most of us don’t put our hands on stove elements. And most of us especially don’t put our hands on stove elements and then turn it on… that results in… you know… burnt flesh, which sucks. And is gross. BUT do we do this with our emotions? Do we bring our minds to a place that can cause us harm? Perhaps at first going over old photos/journals/emails/thoughts, etc. will not be painful but if you continue to keep your mind dwelling on such things will pain not come? Pain that is brought forth by unnecessarily focusing on the emotions you felt at a certain time in your past, the wrongs people did you, the guilt of the wrongs you did, etc.. This very same pain which you have already worked through, fought to overcome, forgiven yourself, forgiven others and moved on.

Similarly, if you put your hand on a cold stove element and turn it on, at first it will not hurt you as the element is cold, but if you keep your hand there eventually you will get burned as the element heats up. Would you then not look down at your burnt hand and ask yourself “Self… why did I just do that? I knew that I was going to get burned if I kept my hand there.”

So I guess my thoughts focus around the fact that while I don’t think it’s bad to look back at the past, it’s also not smart to stay there… that is where the pain is and if you keep your emotions(hand) on the past(burner) you have the great chance of burning yourself. Learn from the past and walk confidently in the present and into the future with the lessons you learned.

Friends, be careful by the stove; that crazy contraption.

No Scissors Needed

I help at an afterschool care program at one of my local elementary school’s and something happened the other day that has made me think about patience, and more specifically, waiting on the Lord. It also fits well into my theme of healing that I am focusing on for the next few Mondays.

So basically, at this program we give the kids a snack, let them play outside, and then do some crafts with them. A lot of these children are needy in the sense that they don’t know how to do crafts without direct assistance from someone. They are all super sweet kids, but again, they are very needy in that they all want reassurance that they are doing their craft right or they want me to show them constantly step by step how to do something (even though I’ve given directions to the group already). Now the other day we started making piñatas (which is a great adventure in itself!!), and, in typical fashion, one of the little boys asked me for help. As I was just finishing up helping someone else I told him I would be there in a minute. So about a minute later I head over to his side of the table and the little darling had taped scissors to his face! Scissor handles on his forehead and the scissor part going across his eye, taped on with none other than green painting tape. They were dull children’s scissors… but still!! Obviously I was a little shocked and I asked him “why did you tape scissors to your face!?!” to which the only thing he replied in an accusing tone was “… you said you were going to help me..” then proceeded to un-tape the scissors from his face.

After I shook my head a bit at this child’s theory (waiting for help=tape blunt scissors to eye), it actually has been on my mind because I wonder how often adults do this when waiting on the Lord for direction, more so how often do I make up my own waiting techniques? We have directions previously given to us (the Bible) but yet obviously also want reassurance from the Lord to let us know we are on the right path, this part makes sense. But when we have to wait on the Lord for something (healing, a new job, a husband or wife, a situation to resolve itself, etc.) do we wait patiently knowing a sense of direction will come? Or do we get bored and do something to get attention; an action that many times may do more damage than good. For instance, if you are waiting for a situation to resolve itself, do you get tired of waiting for an opportunity and instead pick up the phone and start yelling and accusing the opposing side or just decide to egg their house? OR If you are waiting for the perfect husband do you get tired, think that God forgot about you and go spend your time with the wrong men, or try and grab the attention of any male willing to give it?

Essentially: If you don’t get an immediate answer do you tape scissors to your face because you think this may help the process along?

I’m not looking to accuse anyone, these are simply things I am pondering for myself the last couple days about my past, present and future. How am I preparing myself and acting while waiting for something to happen? I know that before when I was looking for healing I tried my best to wait on God’s timing to heal a lot of the wounds I had, but in the meantime I tried to help heal those wounds myself with horrible results; in fact damaging myself more and making it harder for the original wounds to heal. This makes me reflect on my present and look forward to the future with hopes of leaning more on the Lord as opposed to my own ideas of healing.

Friends, I encourage you not to tape scissors to your face. No matter how tempting it may be to try and takeover with a plan that you think will have quick results, wait patiently on the Lord to finish the work he has already started in you. Healing will come, resolution will come, relationships will emerge, new opportunities will arise if you share your dreams with the Lord and wait on him to deliver them in perfect timing.

And I don’t usually end with a verse but today I shall share one of my favorites:

“Those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” Isaiah 40:31

Band Aids & Stitches

Rethinking my blog lately. Not as in “what is all this stuff… DELETE” but as in needing to be more constant and following through on saying all the things that have been put on my mind and heart to share with others, particularly women. On that same note though, I think many of the things that will be said men can also ponder on by knowing how to give women the grace and space that they may need, and essentially helping to protect their hearts. One of the greatest blessings you could give is patience while trying to understand.

And so moving forward, if you are interested and would like to follow, I am going to aim to post every Monday and keep my posts somewhat flowing on the same thread, which is I suppose Healing and Restoration. Finding joy in everyday life again to the point that you smile like a fool and people want what you got.

One thing I kept pondering over the last week is the difference between band aids and stitches. In the literal sense, these two things are quite different, one is for covering a simple wound and one is for restoring a serious wound. This is the same for a healing heart; if you’ve been hurt badly by something/someone your wound can be simple or serious. If you throw a band aid on a heart that requires stitches, for the sake of wanting to “be ok” and move on, you will only have temporary healing. Eventually, that band aid will get soaked through with the blood and pain of your wound and fall right back off, possibly causing you more and more pain as that wound is continually exposed. If you work to get the healing stitches that you require and use time to rest your heart, that heart will heal to such a degree that there will be minimal damage to show that there ever was a wound there. As mentioned in a previous post, ScarsCarry Stories, I have such a scar and I wear it proudly now, which seems odd, but I’m not afraid to speak out about what God has helped me overcome. I used up boxes and boxes of band aids trying to stop my bleeding heart and I just couldn’t do it. I eventually sought out the stitches I so desperately needed and took the time to just let my heart rest. And rest and heal it did, but it took much longer than I wanted it to because the same way you can’t peer pressure or intimidate stitches to heal, you can’t give your heart a deadline to heal.

This post may be much more serious than previous posts but for those that are searching for answers and healing, I encourage you to consider the question: Are you putting a band aid over a wound that requires stitches?  

Rainbow Eyes

You know that one picture that has this little cartoon and it says something like "sometimes I'm so happy I have to shoot rainbows out of my eyes"? Yah. That's how I feel today.
It may be disguised behind my droopy eyelids that are overtired since I stayed up too late (again) because of being too happy to sleep. But the rainbows are there. And like rainbows they shine through a gloomy day to represent a bit of joy and remind us of God's promises to us. Sometimes there is gloom before the rainbow... but the rainbow comes.

Joy, joy, unspeakable joy today. And rainbows.

Roadkill - Accidental Attempts

I just have something simple today to comment on.

Why do animals want me to run them over?

In the past couple weeks I have almost ran over two possums and a rabbit. It gives me a half heart attack every time! I don't want to kill any innocent animals! (or guilty animals either, just to clarify.) Possible roadkill is becoming detrimental to my health. That ridiculous and dreaded moment where you slam on the brakes hoping that the possum or rabbit will still be running on the other side of your vehicle when you've come to a complete stop. Or that moment where you swerve hoping that the possum will end up going in between the wheels of your car. But then you realize that your car is too low and you thunk the possums head because the dumb thing was just sitting in the middle of the road looking at you with these beady eyes.

That is all. Questions I ask myself, sometimes complicated, sometimes... not so much.