I so enjoy writing about friends. God has orchestrated that many lovely people join me along my life’s journey. This encounter was a “high calorie one.” This friend is a wonderful baker. Over the years of knowing her, I have always looked forward to desserts at her place. They were always home-made, and presented very attractively.
One Christmas season we got our heads together and decided that we would plan a morning social with one another. Most socials host several people, but not ours. It was decided that it would be just the two of us.
If my memory serves me well, we both agreed to bake and share our home-made delights. Trust me on this one, hers were “better than mine.” Now let me be quick to let you know that this was decided about 3 weeks before Christmas, and we had both agreed to not eat any cookies, regardless of where we were invited, or how tasty their appeal. We tried to hold each other accountable on this…..and I think we both had kept our word. At least our hips never grew during the three week period.
Our ovens were busy, and icing sugar was in high demand. Then the morning arrived. It has been agreed upon that we would have this “dine in delight” at her home. Several plates were assembled and the coffee pot was brewing.
There we sat, in her living room propelling our elbows and wrists at just the right angle to eat one cookie after another. Occasionally we would sip the delicious coffee. Our conversation went all over the map that morning. We just enjoyed one another. We were “friends in heart.”
In a story like this one, it would not be polite to announce the volume of cookies consumed that morning, but suffice it to say that for the remainder of the Christmas season, cookies and sweets had lost appeal to our digestive system. Shall I say, we had had our fill!
To be honest about our consumption, I’d be quick to advise that regardless of the number of cookies we ate, because we saved our appetites for just this “cookie date,” we had less cookies overall than in most seasons.
And no, I wouldn’t use the term “pigged out”…..but we were hesitant to approach the scales for a week or two.
ENJOY COOKIES WITH A FRIEND! The cookies may have some calories, but I hear they are half as many calories when shared over conversation with a dear friend.
Published by Dianne Horne
I can’t think of anything I enjoy more than to see lives changed! There’s nothing more that puts “oxygen and joy” into my life than to bring the application of Scripture into the “shoe leather” of our lives and to share it with others.
I feel awkward speaking about myself, but I understand it can be helpful to enable others to relate to and enjoy the work of our Lord does in other people. Another down-to-earth way of sharing who I am, is that I love to eat, laugh and to talk about the Lord. I’m not a very exciting individual, but my Savior sure is!
I’ve been happily married for many years, and I now reside in Vancouver, B.C., Canada. God has transplanted my husband and I 28 times in our years together; and it is only when in His presence that you can ask the “why questions” as to the adjustments He’s brought us “to” and “through” in the numerous locations and countries we have lived.
God’s care, love, forgiveness, faithfulness and moment-by-moment presence has not only carried me (when I had every reason to fall apart), but lifted me to a joy I’ve never known. There’s one thing to have joy when things are going great, and quite another dimension of joy and peace when everything in your world is crumbling and unknown. Most of our lives will appear like “ordinary oatmeal living”, but when we allow Him to “establish our steps”, He alone takes our mundane acts of kindness or aid and makes them “extraordinary” for His purpose in the lives of others.
The seasons of caring for my parents and the associated grieving process has forever changed me. It was my honor, joy and privilege to participate with my Lord in what He was accomplishing in their lives, as they both gave their lives to Jesus Christ just days before they were escorted into His presence in heaven. The medical challenges and decisions that needed to be made for a number of those years thrust me into a trust and dependence upon the Lord that I had never known up to that point in my life.
In my journey, I’ve come to realize that our “weakness” is our greatest “strength”, because real power, provision, and His purpose being carried out in and through our lives, depends on Him orchestrating such through His sovereignty.
My “heartbeat of fulfillment” lies in sharing with women, in various settings, helping them to enjoy, study and apply the principles of God’s Word in a down-to-earth fashion. I thrive interacting with women and encouraging them to put their trust in the One Who knows them best and loves them extravagantly; and to prioritize “spending time alone with God each day” developing their relationship with Him. Our lives aren’t designed to just get answers to prayer….but to know and love a very personal Savior, and to surrender daily to “His plans, His agenda and purpose” for our lives.
Several years ago I was challenged to respond to a critical question I had never considered: Why do you exist? What’s your purpose in life?
I live to bring an expression of God in the ordinary events of life, seizing every opportunity of serving and delighting in others. I want my life to be an infectious expression of His love for others, and for them to know how special “they are” to Him; and thus be contagious with His grace.
My life compass is: After people spend time with me, what do they think of Jesus Christ?
The stories that will appear in my blog, are true events that have taken place in my journey. They’re all “very ordinary” circumstances that have occurred through sharing them with Jesus and watching Him orchestrate and demonstrate what He can do when we yield “our ordinary” to the Extraordinary One.
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