Let the Shepherd Lead

I just completed baking a cake for a friend of mine.  Her son is graduating and she asked if I would be willing to bake his cake after finding out a chain bakery refused to try.  Since this is a growing hobby of mine I agreed, especially since she had a picture of what she had in mind.  I asked if she wanted a homemade cake or a boxed cake and some questions about the details concerning the icing and decorations.  Once that was in place, I started to formulate my plan.  The baking is the easy part, it’s the decorating that’s hard. ( I have had no informal or formal training in cake decorating or other pastry arts.  As of now I am self-read and taught.  She has a lot of faith in me! ) 

But as I think about it, that’s often the way it is with our lives.  The day to day mondane routines we create for ourselves are often completed without thinking.  We go through each day with the same goals in mind hoping to make it to the weekend, where maybe among the family and friend affairs we have planned we can catch a little rest.  Why is it that the things that are special in our lives, the “decorations” so hard?  When I think back on the moments that have decorated my memories, they are out of the ordinary, but not so difficult.  Often, they come as a surprise.  I guess what I am trying to say is this:  those moments may take a little more effort (as does icing a cake), but your life is incomplete without them.  Just as the ordinary things (the cake) must be completed as well.  You must have both for the best flavor.  So it is with our lives.  Take a few deep breaths and ponder, what can you do “decorate” someone’s day.  I bet you won’t have to think very long.  Good luck and God Bless!  Caroline