Is God Always the Hard Choice?

It’s One Word Friday!

Ok, so I’m not sure how I got there, but after becoming a Christian in my teens, I fell into a default mode that always assumed that God’s will must be the hardest, and most painful choice I was faced with.

Broccoli or brownie?  Broccoli must be more holy.

Cat or dog?  God surely hates cats so He must want to refine my character by inflicting a cat on me (if this is true, I’m not committed enough to be a disciple)

For a long time, I felt like recreation was too frivolous to be holy.  And because creating felt like recreation, it couldn’t be godly.  It wasn’t hard.  It just brought joy.  What’s spiritual about that?

But, what I’ve learned is that while there are a lot of hard things God uses to form us, He is also a God of good gifts and beauty and delight.

Choosing life means choosing to embrace His good gifts AND to exercise the good gifts He’s given us.  (Phew!  Sigh of relief)

I am blessed to come from a family of creators – my Grams, my mom… Amazing seamstresses, and painters, and makers of all things beautiful.  They shared this love with me, and it was only recently that I realized that the pace of life and the “God as only the hard things” mentality had deterred me a bit from seeing that choosing life can mean choosing to create.

So I decided to carve out time to experience this joy again.

You too, are creative.  You may be a creator of jobs, or experiences, or children, or websites instead of the kind of things I share below, but you ARE a creator because you are made in the image of our Creator God.

I love preparing environments around a table.  I learned long ago that hospitality does NOT mean performance or perfection (again, “Phew!”), so I’ve gotten much more relaxed, but I really enjoy making people feel special when I have the time.

Here are a few ways I’ve been celebrating the gifts of creation God gives this week.

My mom found these vintage tablecloths and gave them to me for my birthday.  It was fun pulling together a gardening theme for my small group dinner using them.  Making the little flower pots for “placecards” was cheap and easy!

Here’s a dessert recipe that is a go-to, especially in the summer (However keep in mind this is coming from someone who once put a CUP of salt in lasagna).

Strawberry Heaven (from my friend, Jenny Hardacre)

1 Box Nilla wafers, crushed                                                                                                 1/2 cup butter                                                                                                                     2 cups powdered sugar                                                                                                       2 eggs (pasteurized)                                                                                                                    1 qt. strawberries, halved                                                                                                                 1 pint whipping cream

1.  Put half of crushed wafers in bottom of 9×13 pan

2.  Cream butter, powdered sugar, and eggs.  Spread over crumbs

3.  Place berries over mixture

4.  Whip cream.  Spread on top.

5. Cover with rest of crumbs

6.  Chill 4 hours or overnight

Lastly, how many ideas do you pin and never do?  Me?  All of them forever.  Sooo, with my new resolution I saw this idea on pinterest and decided to give it a go.  A cute easy teacher or hostess gift, eh?  It’s just a cheap stand-up acrylic frame, some scrapbooking paper and twine I had leftover and a post-it pad.

I don’t even know if you can call this creating because it’s not like anything’s original, but it was fun and life-giving.  What are you creating this weekend? Have fun!