Pie

Pie.

Warm apple pie with vanilla ice cream is my favorite.  For me, it is traditional and a little nostalgic.  When I was growing up in the youth group at my church, our apple pie fundraiser was an annual tradition.  Now, we weren’t selling pies from a local bakery; we were actually making 300+ homemade pies.  We started Friday after school, worked all day Saturday, and often finished up after church on Sunday.  A talented, hard working woman from our church mixed the dough for each and every pie while we learned how to properly roll out a crust and pinch the top and bottom crust together just so…or as “just so” as a group of teenagers can.  In the meantime, others were peeling and slicing apple after apple (this was before Pampered Chef and their nifty inventions).  There was a “longest peel” winner each year who was afforded bragging rights until the next fall.  It was an exhausting tradition, but it seemed everyone in our congregation looked forward to supporting us by purchasing pies and we were proud of our endeavor.  I didn’t realize it at the time, but I was also viewing my life like a pie– divided into slices of family, friends, activities, church, school, etc.  As long as I had a slice for each of the things expected of me, I was well-rounded…which seemed to be a good goal.

As an adult, I studied Henry Blackaby’s Experiencing God which completely changed my world view.  Blackaby teaches that it’s not about how we can fit God into our life, but rather how we might join God in His work, which is happening with or without me.  Oooooh.  So I’m not at the center of my universe after all, am I?  In fact, I may not even know what is best for me.  The Bible calls God “…him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine…” (Eph 3:20).  Blackaby asks “If God wants to give you more than you are asking, would you rather have what you are asking or what God wants to give?”  I’m pretty sure we all have the same answer to that question!

I don’t always get it right, but when I have been able to relax and give God control of a situation, the results have amazed me.  Equally as important, when I live this way, I am more able to be the person He wants me to be in the meantime because I am focused on Him instead of on the problem.  I spend less time worrying…most of this stuff is out of my control anyway!  Yet, everything is under God’s control.  We have an amazing God who longs to give us things we can’t even think up on our own.  I am at my best when I remember that and put Him in charge of my day.  And my home. And my job.  And my marriage.  And my children.  Imagine our lives like that pie again.  Only this time our relationship with the Lord is the crust holding it all together.  Everything else is just filling.  And some days God tops it all off with a little “a la mode”!

But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 

Matthew 6:33

Cindy is a blog contributor and board member at Study With Friends Ministries.  She is married with three children.  For more on the Study With Friends Bible Studies, click here.