Not So Easy Bake

It all started with the easy bake oven.

It seemed so simple.

You changed the light bulb.

Opened the packet.

Put in some water.

And voila.

You had a cake.

Or something that resembled a cake.

And after I received my first easy bake oven, I was inspired.

I wanted to bake.

I wanted to bake cookies and brownies and muffins and anything that the Pillsbury dough boy would approve of.

And I wanted to do it in a real oven.

But I knew, as any 9 year old knows, if you want to bake something on your own- you have to wait until your mother has gone to her PTA meeting.

Because a kitchen covered in dirty pots and pans is just the kind of surprise she wants.

And one night, my wish finally came true.

With a grab of they keys and a shut of they door, the kitchen was mine. My grandmother was watching Dr Quinn medicine woman, and I was free to make my creation.

So I opened the joy of cooking and decided upon the recipe of the night- a classic. The two layer chocolate cake.

Eggs. Check.

Sugar. Check.

Vanilla. Check

Butter. Check.

Flour. No check.

We were out of flour.

But like any good chef in the making would do, I improvised.

It smelt fine.

It looked fine- at first.

But as my nose was pressed to the oven window, I began to notice my cake looked a little different.

My double layer chocolate cake was about 1/2 inch tall- and that was both layers.

And no matter how much chocolate icing I spread on the pancake thin cake could not hide the obvious.

Corn mill cannot replace flour.

Flour is a crucial ingredient to cake.

I thought that my cake was not going to reflect everything I put into my pan. I had done most everything right. I had followed almost all the steps to making a perfect cake.

It worked with the easy bake oven. But somehow, this was different.

When you looked at my cake, you could tell I had done something wrong.

When you tasted my cake, you could tell I had done something wrong.

The same is true of our lives, according to Jesus. Our lives tell of what we consider crucial and necessary ingredients. Our lives, and our actions, reflect our hearts.

^{43 “No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. 44 Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers.} A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of."

We say that our lives have been changed by Jesus- but does our actions reflect that when we're upset?

Or we didn't get that job?

Or that person cut us off in traffic?

We say we love others as He first loved us- but are we willing to love the homeless person on the street?

Or the classmate that says hateful things to us?

Or the co-worker that seems to annoy us a little more then we like to admit?

Do our words and actions truly reflect one another?

Or do we think by adding just most of the key ingredients, the end result will come out the same?

Because, in the end, our cake won't rise. It'll be salty and crumbly and thin, and won't resemble a cake at all.

And by looking at it, people will be able to tell what kind of baker we are.

And when looking at our lives, others will be able to tell what kind of person we are.

And people will be able to tell if who we say we are, and what we do match up.

And no amount of chocolate frosting will be able to cover that up.