Warm Biscuits… Good morning weekend readers. As our temps here in Phoenix are back to the warmth we all love, I can’t help but think of the new atmospheric rivers inundating California. Then there is another round of heavy snow in the upper Midwest and high winds and tornadoes in the southeast. Complicated times call for wisdom and patience to get through it all. So I am musing on a story that a friend shared with me on Facebook.

A pastor asked an older farmer, decked out in bib overalls, to say grace for the Sunday morning breakfast. He obliged and began his prayer saying, “Lord, I hate buttermilk.” (The visiting pastor opened one eye to glance at the farmer and wondered where this was going.) Then the farmer loudly proclaimed, “Lord, I hate lard.” (Now the pastor was growing quite concerned.) The farmer continued without missing a beat, “And Lord, you know I don’t much care for raw white flour.” (Now the pastor once again opened an eye to glance around the room and saw that he wasn’t the only one to feel uncomfortable. Seeing that he was a visiting pastor he also didn’t want to embarrass the man so he kept quiet.) Then the farmer added, “But Lord, when you mix them all together and bake them, I do love warm fresh biscuits. So Lord, when things come up that we don’t like, when life gets hard, when we don’t understand what you’re saying to us, help us to just relax and wait until you are done mixing. It will probably be even better than biscuits. Amen.”

A prayer of wisdom with a chuckle indeed! But think about it—within that prayer there is not only great wisdom for all when it comes to complicated situations like we are experiencing in the world today, but a confidence that God knows what is going on and is already in the midst of our storms, calming and assuring us of his great love.

The Apostle Paul had more things happen to him that I often think of him as “the perils of Pauline.” Yet he knew God was in the mix and the outcome would be for Paul’s good and the importance of Paul’s ministry. That is the same for us. Paul penned one of the most needed and powerful words in Romans 8:28 [NIV]:

“And we know that in all things
God works for the good of those who love him,
who have been called according to his purpose.”

What ‘ingredients’ do you need for your life today? If you are like me, I open a cookbook to get a recipe and I often wonder why does it take all of this stuff just to have a good cake? Well, that’s kind of like our lives. There is a lot to living in this world, and God has a plan for each one of us in how to do it. God sends his Holy Spirit to open our eyes to see and our ears to hear and our brains to absorb all the ‘ingredients’ we need to live our faith each day. Like the farmer, some of those ‘ingredients’ may not be something we like (like peas or cough medicine!). Yet, throughout our lives, the ‘ingredients’ come together just the way God wants and voila—delicious warm biscuits!

I admit that I have never thought about the Lord mixing biscuits! I hope that puts a smile on your face and reminds you that when our Lord is mixing several things that we don’t really care for, we need to stay strong despite our problems and remember God’s promises never fail. If we would love to have “warm biscuits” it means we must stay strong and let the Lord be our ‘chef’ because when the Lord is done mixing something even better is going to come out what we thought was a mess. In closing, I share one of my favorite Billy Graham’s quotes:

“God can take things that are bad and put them
in the crucible of His wisdom and love.
He works all things together for good,
and He gives us the glorious, wonderful promise
that He will do so.”

Truly everyday God gives us ‘warm biscuits’ so get out the butter and let’s eat! AMEN.