Tag Archive | food

Resurrection cookies

Mar29

Day 33 of 40 days to Resurrection day

Today’s suggestion:

Make Resurrection Cookies with a child, yours or someone else’s.

Today my friend Robin and her kiddos visit to share an activity that teaches a lesson, making Resurrection Cookies.  Then they get to eat the results.  It doesn’t get much better than that.

“One of my absolute favorite things in life is baking with my girls.  We bake cakes, cupcakes, muffins, cookies, breads, you name it.  We pick our treat, don our aprons, and get messy . . . I mean busy.

Tonight as we act silly and have fun measuring out ingredients. we also reflect on the sacrifice of Christ and the salvation He offers. The girls take turns adding ingredients and reading scriptures.  We talk about how badly Jesus was beaten and ridiculed by the soldiers, how He was given vinegar to drink when He was thirsty, how His death brought life to His children, the salty tears of the women who loved Jesus, the sweetness of His love for us, and the blood of the Lamb that washes our sins away and makes us white as snow.

The discussion was light and fun.  Memories were being made.

 After the cookies were in the oven and the door taped shut, the girls went to bed.  We sat and talked about the cookies and reflected on the ingredients and the significance of each. 

As I kissed the girls good-night I asked them to think what the cookies might look like in the morning.   I do the same as I lay my head down to sleep. 

NEXT MORNING

GOOD MORNING!  It’s time to check on the cookies!

The girls removed the tape from the oven door in excitement.  They wanted to see what had happened to the cookies overnight.  They didn’t look much different than the night before.  Curious Maddie poked the top of a cookie and crushed it.  Then Emma noticed holes in the tops of other cookies.   I cut one open and we discovered the cookies were hollow.   Before I had a chance to ask them about the empty-looking cookies, Emma smiled and said, “ah-h-h, just like the empty tomb!

 

Yes, that’s it!  The final symbolism is the empty cookie representing the empty tomb!  

The power of death could not hold our Jesus!  He has risen! 

As we get closer to the season of Passover and Resurrection Sunday,  I remember the importance the Israelites placed on passing stories down to their children and grandchildren.  As we talk about Jesus, we can also make memories our children and grandchildren will share with future generations. 

These cookies are easy and fun to make.  If you don’t have children in your home, make them with your grandchildren.  No grandchildren around?  Borrow someone else’s children!  The memories will be just as special for you.”

For the recipe for Resurrection Cookie, go here.

Here is a list of supplies and ingredients you will need for this project:

Supplies:
1 cup pecans
1 tsp. vinegar
3 egg whites
Pinch of salt
1 cup sugar
Zipper baggy
Wooden spoon
Mixing bowl
Mixer
Cookie sheet
Spoons
Tape
Bible

Deny myself?

Mar26

Day 30 of 40 days to Resurrection day

Today’s suggestion:

Consider fasting a meal or two (or more as the Spirit leads) as a sacrifice unto the Lord.

When your stomach growls with hunger, remember Christ is the only One who can satisfy your longings.

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Fasting is not a favorite subject.  It requires too much denying of the flesh.

Jesus told His disciples, “Whenever you fast, don’t be sad-faced like the hypocrites. For they make their faces unattractive so their fasting is obvious to people.“

So we can assume that fasting is to be part of our Christian discipline.  There is something about it that is good for us, like praying, reading the Bible, and attending church.

My mother fasted on many occasions.  It was usually when she was desperate to hear from the Lord.  I can remember her preparing lovely meals for dad and me.  But she did not eat.  It made me aware that she needed God more than she needed her stomach filled.

Fasting, like prayer, is a personal encounter with a personal God.  It should not become legalistic.  It should not be a badge of honor we wear to show our spirituality.  But there is benefit to it.  When we fast, we lay aside one of our most basic needs for a deeper spiritual hunger.

I recognize that some people cannot fast food for medical reasons.  But there are any number of things we can do without for a season.  Social media is one.  Shopping, watching TV, drinking alcohol, or anything that consumes large chunks of our time and money can be a signal of where we are investing ourselves.   If we are honest, often we are trying to fill a deeper longing with cheap substitutes.

What is it you love to do more than anything?  Can you deny yourself for 12 hours or a full day?

Perhaps we will recognize that what we really need cannot be satisfied by food or drink or anything in this material world.  We can only be satisfied with Jesus.

Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good!

Counting down

Nov21

Thanksgiving is less than a week away, and already I’m feeling the crunch of time.  Not about Thanksgiving because it is my favorite time of year.  I’ve already shopped for my non-perishable food items at Senior Day.  I’ve planned my special recipes preparation and marked my calendar for next week.

 

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It is not Thanksgiving that overwhelms me.  It’s Christmas.  The season, not the reason.

I normally don’t watch commercials on TV.  They are my chance to get a snack or change fresh-washed laundry to the dryer or take little dog out or any number of quick tasks that can be completed during that three to four minutes of time.

I prefer to DVR programs and zip fast-forward through commercials.  Because they entice me to do something I don’t need to do, to buy something I don’t need to buy, or to be someone I am not.

However, last week, I sat through several commercials.  It was a mistake.  I saw perfect Christmas ideas on display at every flash of the next advertiser.  Perfectly decorated homes.  Perfectly dressed hostesses, husbands and children. Perfect table settings with perfectly garnished food presentations.  Perfect families all gathered for the perfect holiday.

And suddenly I am overwhelmed.  My opportunity for a perfect holiday season is flying away like the last few leaves on the trees.  Time’s a’wasting and I am not ready.  My relaxed anticipation of Thanksgiving around the table is stolen by someone else’s expectations.

And I know that expectations can be deadly.

I’ve glimpsed into the arena of what it takes to pull off a movie or commercial.  My one and only son has worked on both.  We talked about the process and how people work and plan to make something look different from what it really is.  Make something new look old and worn.  Make something small look large.  Make something fake look real.  It’s all a facade to help the viewer see something that is not.  It’s an illusion.

Christmas can be an illusion.  We try to make it all just right, the house, the food, each other, to present the facade that we are happy and put together.  If we are not exactly perfect then at least we are OK, with a happy smile and a big red bow.

Yet Christmas came because we are not OK.  None of us are OK.

We all need a Savior, one who is more than OK, One who is perfectly complete and mighty to save.  He is the only One who can paint the Christmas picture  His message is reality not illusion.

God sent a tiny helpless infant to a man and woman who struggled to cope.  They were surrounded with criticism and unbelief.  They traveled a long hard distance and not in a one horse open sleigh with bells ringing happily.  Their only shelter was a foul-smelling place, and dirty shepherds would be their surprise night visitors.

This is not a Hallmark card.

So how do I round the corner after Thanksgiving and enter the Christmas season with joy instead of dread, with patience instead of frustration, with grace and peace and joy instead of high expectations of perfection?

I’m not sure I have all the answers to that difficult question.  I do know I need to turn to the original story and remember what this holiday season is about.

I think Linus, a favorite little Peanuts character, had it right all along.

Linus at Chrismtas

Linus’ Christmas monologue 

Come to the table

Nov15

Have I mentioned that my favorite all-time holiday is Thanksgiving?

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No trying to guess the perfect gifts to buy.  No struggling with a tree to put up and decorate.  No ladders and lights on the house.  No obligatory cards with expensive postage stamps to send.  (Sorry, sometimes I am a bit bah-humbug-ish about all the trappings of Christmas.  I will most likely write about that in December.)  Thanksgiving is just a much simpler holiday.

At Thanksgiving, we come to the table, and there is more going on then just filling our tummies.

I have fond memories of childhood table times when my family gathered to share a meal. Laughter and story telling were as regular as mashed potatoes.  Pastors and their families, soldiers far away from home, missionaries often sat with my parents, aunts, uncles and cousins.

We miss a lot by driving through for meals.  We eat on the run on our way to some place else.  Or we sit in front of the TV so we can catch up on the pre-recorded programs we just can’t miss while we scarf down our food.  All eyes are glued to a screen – instead of each other.

I’m as guilty as the next person so please don’t think I am throwing stones.  I live in a glass house myself.

But I am learning to value the ministry of the table.  With Sweet William and me confined to the house a lot lately, our coming and going is limited.  What we can do is invite people to come sit at the table with us.  It might be a home-cooked meal or simply store-bought muffins and coffee.  Either way, there is something precious and meaningful going on, and we are the richer for it.

So I look forward to the Thanksgiving table.  The food will be wonderful of course, more than we will be able to eat.  The special recipes we’ve been enjoying since our parents were the primary cooks will be there along with new and fresh dishes from the younger generation.  We will come hungry and eat too much.  After the main meal and the sampling of several desserts, we will settle back with cups of coffee, looking through Black Friday ads as some plot the course for shopping.

At the table we will reminisce and catch up.  We will laugh and maybe cry a little.  We will share ideas and opinions.  We will find our hearts longing for those not with us this year, and we will treasure each person who is present.

At the table I hope we accept one another with our differing opinions and gifts and strengths and weaknesses.  It is the way Jesus sat at table with such a variety of people.  Scripture records Him often enjoying food with disciples and friends.  He always brought His most tantalizing dish, His love for those sitting close.  He offered them a taste of abundant life and deep drink of living water.  Some partook.  Others went away still hungry and thirsting for things that cannot satisfy.  Still Jesus offered.

While our table setting is different, the principle remains the same.  Sharing the table is a way we share ourselves.  And we hope others accept our gift.

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The table gives us time to sit and just enjoy, not just the food but one another.  We don’t always allow ourselves that luxury in the busy world in which we live.

I will soon be making my grocery list for Thanksgiving, ingredients for my own special dishes, my standard repertoire.  As I cook I will remember other years and rejoice in the gift of time to enjoy family and friends.

This year I will linger at the table and will remind myself to treasure these moments.  We never know if it will be our last time to be with the ones we love.

So no matter how far or how much effort it may take this Thanksgiving, come to the table.  Take time, my friends.  Sit awhile.  Relax.  Love those around you at the table.   There is ministry going on.