Inspired by . . . savoring this life
I wish you could experience the smell in my cottage right now! I just pulled a batch of Salted Caramel Apple Hand Pies from the oven.
If warmth and comfort had a smell, this would definitely be it.
They were worth the work. Even worth the dough that got crammed up under my fingernails. Ick.
Mine don’t look as picture pretty perfect as Miss Kelly’s but, oh-yeah, they’re yummy!
I’m alone in the cottage today. Enjoying the quiet. I knew it would be the perfect day to try this recipe. Not having to rush, or worry that every inch of my little kitchen is, a-hem, covered in flour.
Baking brings with it a lot of memories for me. I wanted to savor them today. Not just the memories, but life.
I want to slow down and savor this life.
I lay my dad’s bread board across the sink, doubling the counter space in my kitchen. Decades of gentle kneading has made the surface as smooth as silk. It is a large board, seamless, nearly eighteen inches wide. I think about the tree from which it came, and glance outside.
The wind is playing with the trees in my front yard. Coaxing them to release their leaves.
Release.
I wonder if the trees feel a sweet relief as they let go and slip into their winter slumber. I know there are a few things I’d like to let go of . . . .
"Come to Me, all of you who are tired from carrying heavy loads, and I will give you rest.” Matt 11:28
Knead the dough. Roll it out. Feel the rhythm.
In the background, faintly, because I’m enjoying the peace of this day, Elvis sings White Christmas. It’s the day after Thanksgiving, so Christmas music is allowed. I like to keep it special.
Sometimes less is more.
Life is so different now, of this Elvis reminds me.
My thoughts swirl like the cinnamon and sugar, mixed with the sharp tang of the Granny Smith apples. The good, the not-so-good, and the new.
Sweet and salty.
Mix it all up, assemble your pie and apply intense heat.
The goodness comes bubbling out.
Even gold, which can be destroyed, is tested by fire; and so your faith,
which is much more precious than gold, must also be tested, so that it may endure. 1Peter 1:7
I’m so grateful for the memories. All of them. Even for the times when something other than good came out when the heat was applied- - for the times I needed a do over.
The times I received grace and mercy.
For they are all evidence of God’s fingers weaving the fabric of my life.
I’m so grateful for the moments-in-the-making. For God is here, now, still weaving.
He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ; Phil 1:6
What moments are you savoring today?
Is there a “do over” you need to thank Him for?
Blessings,
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