Nom Nom Nom

Chocolate Chip Cookies ala Jenni

2/3 stick butter, softened                                                                        2 eggs

2/3 stick margarine, straight from the fridge                                        2 c whole wheat flour

2/3 c granulated sugar                                                                              1 c old-fashioned oats

2/3 c brown sugar                                                                                       1 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons vanilla                                                                                     1 ½ c chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 360. In a stand mixer, mix left side of ingredients until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition. Gradually add flour, oats and soda until combined. Stir in chips. Drop rounded tablespoons of dough onto sheets and bake 9-11 minutes or until slightly browned.

I love a good cookie. Hand me any- snickerdoodles, molasses, snowballs, chocolate chip, pinwheels, shortbread, you name it- and I’m happy enough that if I had a tail, it would wag. For me, a good cookie can smooth over the hardest of days. I bake them to show people I care- a plate heaped with treats left on a doorstep at Christmas, dropped off at school for teachers, or delivered to a friend with a meal.

Cookies definitely make

my short list

of favorite things.

I’m not quite as enamored with dough, though. Not gonna lie, I am absolutely guilty of “checking” the dough as I’m making it, but it would not occur to me to leave the dough in a bowl in the fridge to sample but not bake.

It’s the heat that’s important. The heat is what makes it baking and not just mixing. The oven, cranked up to the right temp, is what turns the collection of ingredients into one amalgamated thing. The oven works its magic, melting the grit of sugar into sweetness, the paste of raw flour and butter into cookie, the egg into the glue that holds it all together. Time in the oven is critical.

And it occurred to me recently that life is like cookies. We have these separate events in our lives- some sweet, some gritty- and they form us into who we are. We grow into ourselves because of the separate parts of our lives coming together. And it’s the heat that makes that happen.

I don’t think I’ve ever heard someone say they looked forward to difficulty, pain or loss. No one anticipates a car accident, the death of a beloved pet, a job loss like we do vacation, a raise, a new baby. It’s the heat of difficulty that makes us into who we are, gives us our character, our own story, our connection to other people’s journeys.

Time in the heat

is critical.

Without the heat, we sit like blobs, cool and separate, apart from our few experiences, comfortable in our lack of trial, but distant from the One that matters most. The heat melts us, turns us to Him, forces us to draw near when maybe we wouldn’t otherwise. We see our lack, discover gaping holes in our abilities that only He can fill. We rely on God in the heat, His hand guiding us through the difficulty until we emerge on the other side. The heat we survive gives us further proof of His provision, His power, His great love for us. So though I don’t look for trouble, I see it now as a chance to move from the mixing bowl of life to the oven of experience, time with God that I might not otherwise have.

Hand me a cookie and crank up the oven.