I hope all of you had a nice Thanksgiving. This year we started a new family tradition. Our grandson, who is eleven, cut down the Christmas tree. The official Christmas tree saw has been passed on to him. He’s a city boy, but secretly, I think there’s a little country in him, too.
Today is the first Friday in December. The last month of 2021 and probably one of the busiest months for many of us. This is the time of year to decorate, shop, bake, party and spend time with family and friends. I did some baking this week for the cookie exchange at Eva Marie Workshop’s monthly Coffee Connect Tuesday. It’d been a long time since I’d participated in a cookie exchange; it was fun and delicious.
We often bake out of love to share with family and friends. As I was making my French buttercream cookies, I started thinking about the ingredients. The ingredients by themselves—raw egg, butter, sugar, flour, vanilla, salt, cream of tartar—don’t necessarily taste so good. (As kids would say, yucky!) But as I blended them, they changed in taste, texture and color. And of course, once I baked the cookies, they were yummy!
Isn’t that like life? It takes multiple ingredients (some more challenging than others) to achieve the goals we set for our relationships, finances, health or spiritual lives. However, when we put them all together, we can create a wonderfully delicious life!
Let’s take relationships as an example: it’s an investment to have a strong relationship with another whether that person is a spouse or significant other, a friend, family member or coworker. Some ingredients for a good relationship include kindness, compassion, appreciation, a listening ear, taking an interest in the other person, showing up in both the good and hard times. Each ingredient by itself is good, but it takes the combination to build and grow a solid relationship.
Each person will have different ingredients to mix together for their personal growth. Think about what you want to achieve in each area of your life. What are the ingredients you’ll need to combine? As we settle into the last month of 2021, did your ingredients give you the outcome(s) you wanted for 2021? Is there anything you’d like to continue or change for 2022?
When thinking about the best ingredients for your life goals, remember it’s important to:
- be precise
- make goals attainable
- create a timeline
- write or speak of your goals in the past tense, as if you’ve already attained them
- give thanks in advance
I think sometimes we focus too much on a single moment of pain in our past – a mistake that hurt us deeply, though on the surface level people may frown. Example: getting rid of belongings out of an attitude of fear and people-pleasing. I’m so glad God didn’t desire for me to lose myself in empty religion where on the outside there’s nothing ‘bad’; he’s more interested in us learning about his goodness as life rolls on because of his gracious attitude towards our battered hearts.
Great analogy on dealing with relationships. Thank you for your insight.
I’m glad you enjoyed reading the blog.
I love your baking analogy! My goal for ’22 is to stop looking back at old recipes-those things in life that bring back memories but, like a high calorie meal, just stick to the heart. I’m asking God to help me move forward, to become more organized and to lessen the “heavy calories” that have weighed down my heart and kept me from moving forward in my home, relationships & business.
God will help you with the “heavy calorie.” Thank you for reading the blog and sharing your thoughts.
Pat you are a great encouragement to me. It has been a pleasure getting to know you. You are a beautiful, kind, strong, brave woman with a caring heart.
The first step to change is being aware you want to do change.
I’m going to stop worrying about everything that’s happening on the outside of me and just continue looking on the inside of me. I’m starting to except the fact I can’t fix or change everything on the outside that’s bothering me.