Cookies in the Oven

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Today I was thinking about how perspective changes everything and how wrong we can be depending on how we are looking at a situation. The thought-provoking situation that occurred was this: I had bought two different types of chocolate chip cookies today. My 5-year-old son, Lakelon, picked out plain chocolate chip cookies, his favorite, and I picked out double chocolate, chocolate chip cookies, which he doesn’t like, but I do. When Lakelon came into the kitchen, he saw my double chocolate, chocolate chip cookies out of the package on a cookie sheet all ready to bake, sitting on top of the hot oven. Instantly, he put his hands angrily on his hips and started yelling, “Where are my chocolate chip cookies! You’re only baking yours!” He was very upset, because his thoughts were – “My mom isn’t even thinking about me. She knows I don’t like those, but she’s only thinking of herself and only fixing the cookies she likes for her and not caring about me and what I want. Humph!” (Or something like that). What he didn’t know and couldn’t see is what made his perspective wrong.

The truth is that I love him so much more than myself and care about his needs and happiness so much more than my own – that I had already placed his chocolate chip cookies into the oven so they would be done first. So, of course, the only ones he could see, we’re mine. What appeared to him to be an act of selfishness, a lack of thinking and caring about his needs, and an inexcusable dismissal of his happiness, turned out to be the opposite thinking on my part. He didn’t have much to say about that, except “Oh, can I have one when their done?” I said, “yes, that’s why I made them” and he skipped merrily out of the kitchen, leaving me to wonder when my kids will realize I am ALWAYS thinking about them.

How true is this story in our lives? How many times do we think God does not care about our needs and is working on someone else instead or not working at all…If only we had his perspective, it may change everything.

If our children could only see our hearts and know what is inside, they would find that we are always looking out for their best interest, even though it may not seem like it to them. We are trying so hard to make sure they turn out to be educated, responsible, respectful, hardworking adults who know God so they will know which path to follow in life; instead, sometimes this is what  they see: us making them go to school (mean), forcing them to do un fun homework instead of play (bossy), chores (lazy parents who are making children do the work), church (getting up early for no good reason – it’s not even a school day).

I wonder what we would see if we could know God’s heart and see his divine plans and interventions in our life? What would our suffering mean to us then? Since we can only see a small part of a situation from our own perspective, we often aren’t able to know and understand God’s meaning behind the situation and his reasoning for it. The reason may become clear to us in time – or we may not know until we’re able to ask him some day. Until then, we rely on faith and trust, that our God, who made us, is thinking about us, working in our lives and in our situations, and has our best interests at heart. In other words, maybe our cookies are already in the oven.

Jeremiah 29:11 (NLT) For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.
- Tara Godard