Inspirational Awakening

The other day, Erica and Eli baked their first cake, with very little help from me. We found a recipe off the Internet and went together to the grocery store to buy all of the ingredients.

They were so excited. Although they have helped me cook dinner and bake cookies in the past, this was going to be their first attempt at baking solely on their own. I told them that I would only help them to put the cake into the oven and to take it out when it was done so that they would not have to deal with a hot stove. Well, I did read the directions a bit when they seemed a little stumped as to what they should do next.

It was a hilarious experience. They had flour all over themselves, the floor, the table, the chairs and Eli even managed to get it in his ears.

Anyway, after adding all of the ingredients and mixing it together, they greased and floured the pan and put the cake into the oven. We set the timer and the cake began to bake.

They couldn’t keep their eyes off the oven. The recipe called for them to bake it for 30 minutes. They pulled up stools in front of the oven and watched it as if they were watching the Super Bowl. Every 30 seconds they asked me was it done yet? Thirty minutes never seemed longer.

Finally, the timer went off. They jumped off the stools and laughed and jumped up and down, elated about their creation.

When I opened the oven, I could tell right away that the cake was not quite done. So, I said, “I don’t think it is quite done.” “Yes it is. The recipe said thirty minutes and thirty minutes is up. It’s done.”

“No, the middle part is still soft and jiggles. I think we should leave it in for a few minutes more.”

“No, Mommy, you said we could do this ourselves.”

“OK. But I’m going on record that I think it should stay a little longer.”

I took the cake out the oven and told them that we had to wait for the cake to cool off before we could add the icing.

Well, that was too nerve-racking for them, and for me, I might add. Because every 10 seconds one of them was asking me, is it cool yet? What about now? I think it’s ready. It feels cool to me? Hey, Cake, are you cool yet?

Finally, it was cool enough to add the icing and you should have seen them go to work. They added white icing and even made flowers on the cake. They drew pictures with the icing, they added their names, and they added everything they could possibly think to add on every square inch of that cake. The entire cake was white, yellow, green and pink.

When they were finally finished, they had done a really great job on being creative. I had never seen a cake like it before. Now, don’t get me wrong, it would have never won first prize in a cake baking contest, but for a six and seven year old, they displayed a lot of creativity.

If you could have seen them, you would have thought they had just accomplished the biggest task the world had ever seen. They were SOOOOO proud of themselves. Their cake looked like Mommy’s—better yet, according to Erica, it looked like Grandma’s.

After dinner that night, we had cake for dessert. Now, I must give them their prompts. The cake LOOKED really good. But once it cooled off, the part of the cake that wasn’t completely done had sunk into the middle of the cake. And when we cut the cake, it didn’t taste all that great. Actually, there were quite a bit of egg shells in the cake which made it quite crunchy. I had to shoot my husband prisms so he would keep his mouth shut and not say anything bad about the cake.

Of course I encouraged them and told them what a fabulous job they had done with the cake and how wonder it had turned out. But children are sometimes brutally honest, even with themselves, and both Erica and Eli were quick to say, “This might look like a good cake, but it doesn’t really taste all that good.” They were trying to figure out what the hard white things were that were in the cake.

Being me, I had to take this opportunity and share with them one of life’s true lessons that I wanted to share with you today.

See, a lot of times we have absolutely no problem with spending hours working on the outside of ourselves trying to make us “appear” beautiful—going to the salon, getting our nails done, legs waxed, pedicures, shopping for hours for the right shoes--but we become very impatient when it comes to working to make the necessary changes on the inside, the part that counts.

Erica and Eli spent the most time decorating the cake and displayed a lot of impatience when it came to waiting for the cake to be complete. Even though they were warned that the cake was not quite ready, they were willing to sacrifice the taste, because of their impatience.

Working to make true changes in your life, means starting from the inside and working your way out. But for the most part, it won’t happen over night. Sometimes it takes what may seem like forever. But don’t let your impatience allow you to compromise the greatness that you will become. If it requires that you go back into the oven for a few more minutes, or a few more days, or weeks, or months, or years —do it. Trust me. The end results will be all worth it. Not only will you look like Grandma’s cake, but you will taste like it too.

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