I haven’t written on here in a while. I think it’s because I was waiting for something big to happen. Something worth writing, and reading, about. Then I realized that my life is full of little stories that come with big lessons. So here is one.
Monday is my boyfriend Jared’s birthday. I wanted him to see me as the best girlfriend ever, so I’ve been planning for months. First, I ordered three of his favorite shirts on the internet. Or what I thought were his favorite shirts. Turns out they look nothing like the pictures online (do they ever?). He opened them early yesterday and loved them (or pretended for my sake). He even wore one last night to dinner. He’s a good sport.
Anyways, then came the cake. I gathered my supplies and planned everything out this morning. It was going to be a camo cake, which entails a lot of food dye and effort. One and a half hours later I was beaming over my new creation. As I was pulling the cake out of the over, I just so happened to look to my left. A carton of eggs. Now this might not seem strange to you, but you see, the eggs were still in a Walmart bag. Unopened. So, I now have a fabulously egg-less camo cake that probably tastes like cardboard. I called my mom and complained for a while, then decided to just decorate it anyways and tell him not to eat it. It didn’t take long for me to realize that the icing writers I had purchased were gel. Writing on chocolate icing with gel writers means every color looks black, in case you didn’t know. So now, not only do I have a very unappetizing cake, but the decorations look equally as pitiful. It was in that moment that I realized nothing went as planned for Jared’s birthday. I didn’t do anything right.
Thats the funny thing about humans. We truly think that if we try our best and take matters into our own hands, things will be perfect. And sometimes that may be true, but that “perfection” comes with a hefty price: anxiety. Humans weren’t made to tackle things alone. Humans were not made for perfection. AND THAT IS OKAY. Jared will love this cake because it shows him that I love him and that I cared enough about him to try to make his day great. Who cares if it tastes like a biscuit, or worse. I also realized that we must fail sometimes, or we would never realize our deep need for Jesus Christ. If we could do it alone, then why would we have a savior? But still, I am among the millions that try their damnedest every day to be a one woman show. So that other people will stamp me with approval. That girl is successful. She’s got it all figured out. In reality, my life is kind of like Jared’s cake. It has effort and passion in it, but fell short of perfection. On the outside AND the inside. But that’s okay, just because I’m not perfect doesn’t mean that life isn’t fun. In fact, everyone got a good laugh out of the birthday catastrophe. We got good memories, which is good enough for me.
I want to leave you with a quote from Love Does (seriously people, read the book!)
When each of us looks back at all the turns and folds God has allowed in our lives, I don’t think it looks like a series of folded over mistakes and do-overs that have shaped our lives. Instead, I think we’ll conclude in the end that maybe we’re all a little like human origami and the more creases we have, THE BETTER.
Growth Spurts 