God's creativity inspires me. He made everything ex nihilo. Into the empty void of Nothing, he poured quarks and quails, turtles and tourmalines, shooting stars and sharks. On a dark empty canvas, God painted color, light, life, movement, beauty. He does the same with babies, creating them within the dark hiddenness of the womb; and with ideas that unexpectedly arrive as gifts in cranial secrecy.
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Many times I feel lifeless, dark, empty. I'm void of creative energy for mothering, living a faith-filled life, loving my husband and friends, writing. My energy is low, my life blood surges slow; I feel tired. I need inspiration -- new ideas -- to bring a creative light to my life.
The other day I was standing in line at the Jewel after a particularly wearying grocery shopping experience. As I walked down the aisles grabbing Cheerios, bread, milk and olive oil my heart was heavy for my friend, Margie, who has - for the last year - been bravely, beautifully walking with her two young children and husband as he battles metastasized brain Cancer.
By the time I got to the check out line, I was inexorably sad. I felt my throat catch and tears behind my eyes. Silently, I prayed, Lord, help Margie. And help me help her. I need an idea, a plan, an inspiring creative way to bring hope and help and healing to this dark difficult place.
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At that precise moment, a little cookbook nestled beside the candy bar display caught my eye. "Celebrate with our best ideas ever: CAKES!" lauded the front of the little book picturing a green and white grasshopper cake dressed in chocolate mint candies and celadon colored whipped cream. I grabbed the book, flipped through its pages: a roller coaster cake, mud slide ice cream cake, spice cake with raspberry filling & cream cheese frosting, pirate's hidden treasure cupcakes, a carrot cake covered with dozens of tiny icing carrots, chocolate zucchini snack cake.
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Blood seemed to course a little bit faster through my veins. Neurons began to fire in my brain. The Holy Spirit seemed to whisper. Bake a cake every Monday with Charlotte (Margie's four-year-old daughter). This is something small you can do to help . . .
For the last few Mondays my kitchen has been blessed by egg shells on its counter, flour on its floor and Charlotte's laughter. With my daughter Emily, Charlotte and I have made the spice cake, the grasshopper, and a few others. Yesterday we made pirate cupcakes.
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Every Monday evening as I send Charlotte home with the cake we've mixed, baked and decorated together, I can't help but think of the simple way God dropped that idea into my mind in the Jewel line. A simple idea in a dark, hopeless place creating love, frivolity . . . slices of sweet life.
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