Cookie Dough

Several months back...I'd say before Christmas... I was mixing up a batch of cookie dough and thinking about some things that God had placed on my heart regarding my family. Nate and I had really started to take a new approach to our parenting. You see.. I don't believe that it is our job to make our children conform to a set of rules, but rather to lead them to the One, who can transform them from the inside out. As a parent I am hopelessly flawed and in the hullabaloo of every day life, I find myself losing focus of the goal and resorting to desperate measure for the sake of a peaceful household. :) But our Heavenly Father is full of patience and compassion. He is able to teach and train my kids where I can't. My job...is to get them close to Jesus and allow HIM to pierce their hearts. Then, we will see an outward expression of an inward transformation.
 A part of getting them close to Jesus is teaching them all I know about God and His character and how He desires our family to interact with one another... And thankfully.. He will often drop these little stories into my heart to share with the kids. They are practical stories that apply to my kids at the age they are now. So on this particular day I was mixing up a batch of oatmeal chocolate chip cookies and this is what God showed me to share with my kids. I give God all the glory for this... because I am not smart enough or creative enough to think of it myself! It may not mean much to you... but it hit the mark with my kids... and that's what matters the most  ;)  :


 A family is like a batch of cookie dough. Each family member  is an ingredient that does its part to make a perfect batch of cookies. In this case, we have flour, oats, sugar, chocolate chips, milk, eggs and butter. Each ingredient is very important to the final product.  When one is missing or not doing it's part, the dough is useless. If you have only eggs, sugar and butter, you get a runny, gritty batter that won't hold it's shape. If you have just flour, oats and milk, the dough is stiff enough so that you can make a cookie... but it won't taste very good! Likewise.. no single  ingredient is meant to stand alone. If you eat a spoonful of flour you are sure to be disappointed by its bland and flavorless texture. One or two spoonfuls of sugar might taste good, but too much of a good thing is a BAD thing, right?! Butter alone is not so appetizing... but it helps hold thin gs together and complements the sweetness of the chocolate morsels oh so nicely! Each ingredient has a job and God made us to WORK TOGETHER and depend on one another. (Ephesians 4:11-12) 
 So after I poured all the ingredients in the bowl I got out the beaters and mixer and began the process of mixing the dough. God then showed me how life is rough. Sometimes a family goes through rough seasons or difficult  circumstances and it feels like they are getting beat up and thrown around. But God uses those circumstances to make us CLING TO ONE ANOTHER!!... just like the ingredients in our bowl! God wants to use ALL things in our life for our good! (Romans 8:28)
 The last thing He showed me to share with my kids was as I was placing the cookies in the preheated oven. He said the oven represents God's Word and His presence. When we spend time in those two things, as individuals and as a family, we RISE to become what God made us to be and to live out the purpose that God has placed in us!!  Without spending time there in the oven the cookies would remain blobs of dough on a cookie sheet. It wasn't until they spent time in the oven that they became what they were supposed to be all along!! God desires an abiding relationship with us. Its in His word and His presence that we discover our purpose. :)  (John 15:1-8)




 So, that is the little story that I was able to share with my kiddos as we nibbled on our cookies. I THANK GOD for these precious times and the opportunity to talk to my kids in a way that they can relate to..cookies of course!!! :D These are the "crumbs" that my blog is named after! And nothing brings me greater joy than to see the lights of understanding come on in their little hearts!! 
 Thanks for reading and I pray that God will speak to you through all the "crumbs" in your life!! 


Now.. I know you have a hankering for some cookies after that... go on and make some..and bring me a few while your at it!