YOU CAN BAKE YOUR OWN CAKE
The last day of school before the holidays the granddaughters, Amber and Hannah got out of school at noon. They drove over to the house to go out to lunch and spend the day with me and Janet.
Of course that always includes Nana taking them shopping. In the course of the afternoon Amber ask Janet, “Nana, how do you like retirement?” to which Janet replied, “I enjoy it but I miss the money, you can’t have your cake and eat it too.” Hannah piped up and said, “You can bake your own cake!” Wow! Without knowing what she said she gave an answer to life. You are in control of your life and attitude. When you have a lemon you make lemonade. You can control your life.
God made man after his image (Gen. 1:26-27) and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life (Gen. 2:7). God made man a free moral agent by placing him in the Garden of Eden and giving him the ability to choose. You can eat of every tree “but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die” (Gen. 2:17). Each of us can choose! Each of can bake our own cake! Each of us can decide how our life will be.
YOU CAN BAKE YOUR OWN CAKE OF DEDICATION TO THE WILL OF GOD. Paul wrote, “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord” (1 Cor. 15:58). You can bake your own cake. You can decide to be faithful. “Moreover it is required in stewards that a man be found faithful” (1 Cor. 4:2).
YOU CAN BAKE YOUR OWN CAKE OF JOY AND HAPPINESS. “A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones” (Prov. 17:22). Isn’t it great to meet brethren who have a smile and are happy? Every day you can arise to a bright wonderful day if you choose to do so. “Two men looked out of prison bars, the one saw mud the other stars.” What do you see? Abraham Lincoln said, “Most people are about as happy as they make up their mind to be.” We can dwell on our problems or we can dwell on our blessings. “The blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich, and addeth no sorrow with it” (Prov. 10:22).
YOU CAN BAKE YOUR OWN CAKE OF ENCOURAGEMENT. Barnabas was an encourager. After Peter had preached to and converted Cornelius, a Gentile, Barnabas was sent by the Jerusalem church to encourage (Acts 11:22-23). We can encourage others. Haven’t we all had someone in our lives that at just the right time we were encouraged? It was December 1962. Our son Jim had just been born two weeks previously. Here we were two kids with a kid. It was Saturday, we both were depressed, Jim needs a diaper change, and someone knocked on the door. It was Zane and Juanita Woody from church. They came in and took over for the day. Juanita cooked a ham and they stayed all day and helped clean the house and at the end of that day life was completely different. They encouraged.
Yes folks, we can bake our own cake.
Larry