No-bake Lessons

Have you ever heard of no-bake cookies?  Yes, even the name makes it so appealing…no baking.  This sounds easy, quick and right up my alley.  When you see the ingredients, you will be even more excited.  Cocoa, butter….how can this be topped?  Here is the clincher, you have to time this cooking on the stove-top precisely.  My mother-in-law has this down to a science, and apparently so did her mother-in-law, my husband’s grandmother.  Year after year, I tried unsuccessfully to make these simple-sounding cookies.  I have ended up with crumbles (we could put on ice cream) or gooey-ness that we could spoon like pudding.  I had my mother-in-law give PRECISE instructions and once again, I embark on the voyage of “no-bakes”.  My husband’s eyes lit up when I told him I was making them.  I mixed precisely and waited for the boil…the secret was in the 1 minute timing.  When it bubbled, I hit the microwave timer and waited and stirred, waiting for the beep.  Imagine my panic when I looked at the microwave timer and it still read 60 seconds…”Oh no”, I screamed.  “The timer is broken”…”I don’t know what to do”…I hear David in the background…”it will be ok, you’ll know, just trust your instincts, you’ll know”.  He had faith in me, but I was so disappointed.  I took it off when I thought a minute had passed and quickly stirred in the rest of the ingredients, just hoping to avoid utter disaster.  To my amazement, it was looking good.  My husband was smiling, saying “this looks like mom’s”…and sure enough, for the first time in 20 years, my no-bakes weren’t half bad.

Why in the world am I blogging about this?  Well, to be honest, I sometimes feel my decisions in life are similar.  I think I have direction on what to do, and at the last minute, a monkey wrench is thrown in, something I did not foresee and I panic.  “This isn’t the plan”, I scream aloud to God.  I hear His voice behind me…”Trust me, and you will know what to do.”  I am scared, but I have assurance and peace in the calm.  No, it’s not my instincts I’m trusting, but the sweet Holy Spirit inside guides my way.  No-bake lessons are pretty good.