‘Tis the Season

Making cookies is often a family tradition.  Spending time together is the important ingredient to building good, healthy relationships. When you create moments of fun, not only does laughter bubble up, but so do sweet conversations. Generations come together and share stories of days before and yet to come.  Counters are covered in flour, recipe cards take on new stains and when it all comes to an end, a shared cookie can bridge time and space and emotion. 

In our bakery, we cut out cookies to create perfect gingerbread people who all look the same. But, in our lives, we know not one of us shares the exact qualities of someone else.   I can assure most of us aren’t totally thrilled with how we came out into the world.  Maybe it’s our shape; maybe it’s our place in life or maybe it’s the people around us.  But maybe, just maybe we have it all wrong.  We are so focused on ourselves that we haven’t spent much thought about our Maker.

There is an expression that says “life is what you bake it” and I have to believe the One who got into the kitchen to get busy and create each one of us knew exactly what would happen next.   We are wonderfully and uniquely made with so much to offer just because of who we are, not because of anything we have. 

So this holiday season, my hope is for you to take some time to think less about shape and space and think more about what you have already baked within you to offer everyone around you.