Perfection, Sweeter than Gingerbread

By Desiree Glass (aka Grandma)

Adults and children converged upon the kitchen table—and two gingerbread houses, previously constructed by Aunt Bekah and Aunt Emma. Multi-colored candies awaited their purpose in clear glass dishes, while children awaited their signal to begin. Grandma worked quickly to squeeze rows of gooey white frosting on rooftops to create a sheathing for confectionary shingles. Then children grabbed communion-wafer-like discs to decorate in a mix-match pattern across the gable roof. Chewy gumdrops and candy beads left glass dishes and found their way into toddler’s hands—but more landed in their mouths than on the house. Uncles painted clothes on gingerbread men and drew faces with smiles to match the grandchildren’s. Little ones climbed on the table and reached over the gingerbread house to snag more candy, while Grandma prayed the icing mortar was strong enough to prevent a collapse. Aunt Tara snapped photos as fast as she could to keep pace with the flurry of activity and hopefully capture the perfect shot for the front of Grandma’s card.

Make Your Own Luck

Whoever trusts in his riches will fall,

but the righteous will flourish like a green leaf.

—Proverbs 11:28

I flipped the page of my “grandchildren” calendar to the month of March and chuckled at the picture of Addie and Eli captioned “Make Your Own Luck.” They were making faces—with the help of Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head’s interchangeable parts, Addie with a mouth as wide as a rainbow and ears fit for a leprechaun, and both of them in hats, Addie’s purple and Eli’s a St. Paddy’s Day green. 

But how do you make your own luck? Isn’t luck a chance happening? Like something we wish for?

It Is Enough

And Israel said, “It is enough; Joseph my son is still alive. I will go and see him before I die.”

—Genesis 45:28

It is enough, I read the words of Jacob (also called Israel). 

Enough. I let the word seep into my soul. Enough. Jacob’s final wish before he died…his only wish…his only prayer was to see his son alive who he had believed was dead.

I have read the story many times, but never before had it impacted me as much as when I read it earlier this week. When I read how Joseph’s jealous brothers sold him into slavery and then deceived their father into thinking he had been killed by a vicious animal (Genesis 37:12-33), I was outraged. When I read the account of Jacob’s grief (Genesis 37:34-35), my mother’s heart ached for him. I tried to imagine how he must have felt, but I could only shudder at the thought of losing one of my own.

Fit 4 Service

Have you heard of Fit-to-Fat-to-Fit (aka Fit 2 Fat 2 Fit), an experiment by fitness instructor Drew Manning who wanted to relate to his clients' struggles to lose weight?  According to The Blaze, Manning gave up exercise and ate unhealthy food from May to November 2011 to gain 70 pounds on purpose.  Now back at his original weight, Manning describes how difficult it was to get back into a fitness routine to take off the excess pounds.

I could’ve saved Manning a lot of trouble, if he’d have just asked me about it.  I know how difficult it is! Two years ago I began a healthy-living group at my church.  Over this two-year period I shed 20 pounds through eating healthy and incorporating daily physical activity.  Straying from my healthy lifestyle for the past few months due to emotional issues put me right back where I started two years ago.  Getting back into the fitness routine seems even harder this time around.