As Much As You Can Give Me!

I was the oldest child of four in our family. My brother - the fourth child - was born when I was 9 1/2 years old.

Because he was so much younger, my sisters and I were often amused by some of the things he said.

When he was 3, I was 13. And as teenage girls are prone to do, I began the quest to diet. (It's a never-ending quest in my case!) Anyway, I would often ask for half a piece of cake or just a small scoop of ice cream for dessert.

When I would ask for a small serving, Kent would tell my Mom, "I want as much as you can give me!" And we would all laugh.

But as I thought about the April theme for Lovely Branches, More of God, I remembered Kent and his enthusiastic request. And I thought about how life would change if I embraced God with as much fervor.

God shouldn't be confined to 30 minutes of "quiet time" each morning or night. He isn't just found by opening an email devotional that predictably arrives in my inbox each day, though those things definitely help focus my eyes on Him during a busy day.

I've been reading a book, Grace for the Good Girl: Letting Go of the Try-Hard Life by Emily P. Freeman. I don't know how she got in my head from long distance, but she did. It's hard to boil down this book into a neat and tidy summary, but essentially, she encourages women to realize this: In Christ, we are free to receive from Him rather than constantly try to achieve for Him.

Not that we are fit (qualified and sufficient in ability) of ourselves to form personal judgments or to claim or count anything as coming from us, but our power and ability and sufficiency are from God.

2 Corinthians 3:5, Amplified Bible

In order to receive, we have to first let go. Emily writes:

You are not accepted because you are good.
You are free to be good because you are accepted.
You are not responsible to have it all together.
You are free to respond to the One who holds all things in His hands.
You do not have to live up to impossible expectations.
You are free to wait expectantly on Jesus, the One who is both Author and Perfecter of your faith.

I am a do-er and a worker and a listmaker. And that's OK. But I need to realize God loves me - no matter what. It isn't about crossing things off my to-do list. It's not about trying harder. It's not about me. It's about God:

For it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves. It is a gift of God.

Ephesians 2:8

When I receive a pretty, wrapped birthday gift, I don't race off to my to-do list to see if I deserve it. I untie the ribbons and excitedly open it to discover what's inside.

So why can't I accept the gift of God's grace with such graciousness and ease?

Instead of asking for a half portion defined by my humanness, I need to embrace God's love and grace with an open mind, open hands and open heart, and exclaim with as much enthusiasm as Kent did with his dessert request:

"I want as much as you can give me, God!"

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You'll want as much of this dessert as possible, too. Double Berry Cheesecake Bars won a national contest for a Kansas baker and would be a great dessert for your Easter dinner table. When you click on the link, it shows the recipe made in a 9- by 13-pan. Recently, I made the dessert in a springform pan, as shown in the photo above. Either way, it's a winner! Now that fresh raspberries are available in the grocery store, you could also "dress it up for dinner" by decorating with fruit on top.

Enjoy and Happy Easter!

Bloom Where You're Planted

Sometime before Christmas, we finally moved the planter at the front of the house to the wash house. The plants that had so cheerfully decorated our entrance during the summer were long dead. After weeks of freezing weather, they were shriveled and brown.

They certainly weren't fit to welcome guests to our house during the holidays. Much better to dust off the Christmas lights and let them provide a little color for the season.

And then, something unexpected happened.

Those plants that had looked dead suddenly came to life.

They surely hadn't received any care. They weren't watered. They weren't fertilized. A little light streamed through the dirty wash house window. But, at most, they got a glance from Randy when he went into the building to dish out the cat food each day.

But then, one day, he noticed the blossoming flowers and couldn't wait to tell me about the surprising revival going on in the wash house.

As we approach the season of Lent, the blooming flower served as reminder.

Ash Wednesday is March 9. It signals a time of prayer and preparation as we make the 40-day Lenten journey toward Easter. It should signal a time of cultivating our relationship with Christ through prayer and study so that we can bloom where we are planted.

For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there until they have watered the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

For you shall go out in joy, and be led back in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall burst into song, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress; instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle; and it shall be to the LORD for a memorial, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.

Isaiah 55: 10-13

We are approaching that time of year when the world will burst into song and the trees of the field will clap their hands with the arrival of spring.

A couple of weeks ago at Bible study, we were asked whether we believe there are modern-day miracles.

I think we are surrounded by miracles every day:

It's the miracle found in the beauty of a spring bulb piercing the cold surface of the earth and bursting into bloom (or blooming against all odds in a cold wash house during the winter!).

It's in the new baby animals that populate farm country during the spring months.

It's in the miracle of birth and the love of a parent and a child.

And the biggest miracle of all is that God loved us so much that He sent his only Son to the cross to save us from our sins.

But He didn't stop there. Jesus rose from the dead and gives us the promise of new life.

And He sends us illustrations of new life everyday ... if we'll only open our eyes and look. It may be in a budding tree. It could be in a plant left for dead in a cold wash house.

Lord, open our eyes so that we can see and be made new in You. Amen.

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The recipe I chose this month also has its share of surprises. Chocolate Trifle was served at the first Lovely Branches Ministries' Friendship Friday. LBM is serving free luncheons for ladies six times this year, thanks to a grant from the South Central Community Foundation and help from local businesses.

Are you near Stafford? Join the Lovely Branches crew for lunch and fellowship on March 18 and April 29. The meal is served from 11:30 AM to 1 PM in the Stafford Senior Center. Look for other dates in September and October to be announced later.

A delicious dessert is always part of the meal. The Trifle recipe reminds me of a more elegant version of "Dirt" Cups, little individual servings of pudding and whipped cream and crushed chocolate sandwich cookies with a gummy worm hidden inside, one of my kids' favorite treats when they were little.

There were no gummy worms hidden in this dessert. The surprise ingredient? Coffee.

What woman doesn't love coffee and chocolate? (And, what husband wouldn't be delighted to eat the leftovers? Mine was!)

Enjoy!

Chocolate Trifle

1 pkg. chocolate fudge cake mix
1 large pkg. (6 oz.) instant chocolate pudding mix
1/2 cup strong coffee
1 carton (12 oz.) frozen whipped topping, thawed
6 Heath bars (1.4 oz. each) crushed

Bake cake according to package directions. Cool. Prepare pudding according to package directions. Set aside. Crumble cake; reserve 1/2 cup of cake crumbs.

Place half of the remaining cake crumbs in the bottom of a 4.5- or 5-quart trifle dish or decorative glass bowl. Layer with half the coffee, half the pudding, half the whipped topping and half of the crushed candy bars.

Repeat the layers of cake, coffee, pudding and whipped topping. Combine remaining crushed candy bars with reserved cake crumbs. Sprinkle over top.

Refrigerate for 4-5 hours before serving.

Recipe Notes:

• The recipe said it would serve 8 to 10 people. It served double that number.
  


• I used one, 8-ounce package of chocolate covered Heath English Toffee Bits (found by the chocolate chips at your grocery store) instead of crushing candy bars.

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Need another coffee and chocolate creation? Try this bar cookie recipe from my kitchen.