Prodigal: With that dessert table, they will flock around you like chickens on a june bug.

Me: It wasn’t all me, the whole family joined in.

Prodial: It sure looks good.

The other day I made homemade fudge with my mom. Let me tell you a little bit about my mom. She learned to bake from her grandmother. She is really good at it. She has a natural ability with desserts that I can’t compare with any other that I have seen.

My mom bakes from years of experience. She does not measure, or follow recipes. She bakes from her heart. If you want to know how she made something, it can be difficult to get the detailed recipe. She just knows how to create.

If you give my mom, flour, butter, sugar, eggs. She can make some kind of dessert in no time flat. She will figure it out.

She had made fudge for the family, and I did not participate in eating that fudge so she decided to tell me how to make it.

She wanted to make fudge that was an old family recipe. It is not written down, but verbally explained to others. So we set a date, and time.

We called each other on phone with no facetime. We were in two different states, but she had her ingredients, and I had mine.

She started with “Cook the nuts until they smell done.” Now most of you have already panicked. What does that mean? Well it means about five minutes. My mom bakes with the heart remember.

We started to cook the chocolate mixture on the stove. I ask “How do I know when the chocolate is done?” My mom’s answer ” Well get some cold water, and when the chocolate seems to roll up, then it is done.”

I’m sure that half of you are wondering where are we in the recipe. This was part of the process, I was unsure also of what my mom really meant by this. I asked her a couple of questions, and looked at the chocolate, and was able to figure out that it had rolled up after a while.

The recipe was able to be completed. By the grace of God, the fudge turned out great! Me, and my mom ended up having great fun!

I know, most of you have no idea how to make fudge like that. To tell you the truth it was a little risk. With no clear direction, of exact minutes, and temperatures gauges, we could have easily failed at it too. We started making the fudge not knowing if it would be good, or not.

My mom was excited, and said she got compliments from my nephew, and brother. I got compliments from friends, and myself. We determined that this experiment really did work.

See my mom bakes from the heart.

My mom is paying attention as she goes along, and adds the ingredients, and in the end hopefully it all taste great.

I know we have recipes websites, cookbooks, online cooking classes, and never ending supply of new kitchen gadgets to make every step easy, and reliable.

My mom cooks from the heart. Sometimes her baking does not work. There has not been many times though that a dessert my mom has made has been completely eaten by somebody. In fact I can’t really remember those times it was not completely eaten, they seem so few. When my mom finishes a dessert, and it taste great, she is as excited as if it was the first time she ever made a dessert that goes well.

And as I reflected on this I thought of how we can follow God.

This is why following God really has to have a lot of heart. It can’t be all logic. It can’t be a complete recipe with the best gadgets that create an atmosphere of no risk.

God calls us to a task. We start, and have no idea when it is done, and what the process will really look like. In truth we have no idea if it will turn out as a great recipe.

God calls us to follow Him with heart. We have to be close to Him to continue to get direction. We can’t leave Him behind, and just have steps of a recipe in front of us. We have to have Him talk us through it. We have to take it one step a time. We have no idea if it will turn into something we will enjoy. We just have to try, and trust what God is telling us.

What I didn’t tell you is that years ago I tried to make no bake cookies on the phone with my mom. Once again with no recipe. I couldn’t do it. I had to wait until I was with her, and she showed me. I then learned a lot by watching, and listening. After some time I now am able to follow my mom more with her directions.

Sometimes before we can even risk the process with God we have to be familiar with watching, and listening to God in everyday life.

I know that God has called you to take a step. You have been use to recipes all your life. This seems so foreign. There are recipes for life all over the place that work out. God wants you to have a life with heart though. You can only get that by faith. You can only get it by trusting God. Along the way you may not be able to understand if this will turn out for the best, but still you can trust Him. Along the way you may think that you don’t understand, but you can trust Him to show you.

There is nothing wrong with recipes. I use them myself. There is nothing wrong with our lives at times when we use the recipe of lives. I have done that too. Now though is a different time. Now is the time to trust in the Lord.

Proverbs 25:13

As the cold snow in the time of harvest, so is a faithful messenger to them that send him: for he refreshes the soul of his masters.

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org