We've been dealing with a lot of issues lately. We're just tackling it all head on, or trying to. Recently, we've had another issue crop up...again. Let me explain. Public school is not an option for our family. I'm sorry. Well, actually I'm not. I've prayed about it many times and I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that homeschooling is what God has called us to do. Now I realize that some might say what about socialization. Click on the word and look up the definition. This is one of the many reasons why we home school our children. We're not interested in our children "adopting the behavior patterns of the surrounding culture". They will not be freaks or social outcasts simply because they didn't spend all day five days a week in a classroom full of other children their exact same age. Quite the contrary. I don't want to get on a homeschooling soapbox simply because I know that homeschooling is NOT for everyone, for whatever reason. However, if you want to know more just leave me a comment. On to the lesson...
I was torn about posting this because I knew that immediately some of you would be thinking "Well you can't protect them forever" and I know that I can't. However, I was talking to a friend who said that someone else had put it to her this way, raising her children was like pouring concrete for a foundation. She has to work at smoothing it out and getting everything just so. She doesn't want someone coming along before it has time to set and writing their name or marking up her foundation. You could use that same analogy with cake or whatever else relates best.
I thought that it was a good analogy, however I was pretty upset when I went to bed the other night. So, I began to pray about it, again. That night is when God showed me just how relevant that analogy was. I woke up with an assignment for Stacey. I told her that I would pay her $20 to make me a cake, but it had to be done just as I said. Once she accepted the challenge, she would not be allowed to give up, she would have to complete the task no matter what. She could use any recipe, any flavors, but there had to be FIVE layers. It had to be a recipe that could use the ingredients we already had on hand (we were out of butter). I also said it would be nice if she could do five different colors or flavors, but she didn't have to. It didn't have to be perfect, but it did have to be presentable enough to give as a gift. AND it had to be completed by a set time (8 p.m. that night).
I think she really thought that I had lost my mind, but she accepted the challenge. Here's where God stepped in again. I left to go to the DMV (this was blogged about in this post) and I got stranded! I was not here to help her a single bit, to hear her frustration, or to intervene in any sort of way. Although, all of her little siblings were. I finally got home around 7:30 p.m. She had just finished the cake!
Then I proceeded to explain this all to her as I'm twirling the cake around on the counter. She of course, had her jaw dropped in horror knowing that this cake could very well start to fall over... This cake represents our family. There are five layers. One to represent each one of you. Each one of the layers is a little different, but together it still makes one cake. You can choose to make your cake any flavor or any way you choose. You can make it one or two layers or five (or 3, or 6, or whatever). The end result is still the same...a cake.
I asked her how she would have felt if someone would have stopped by and while visiting, decided to scrape their finger across the top layer of the icing, or worse yet, actually tore off a piece of cake from the top. She said she would have been pretty mad. Then I asked her if it would have ruined the whole cake. She said yes. I then explained, this is my cake. It may not be perfect, but it's mine. If you mess up even just the top layer, it affects the whole cake! While the cake is mine, I am responsible for what happens to it. There were MANY other points that we touched on, but to sum it all up:
I only have a set amount of time to make my five layered cake. It doesn't have to be the same kind of cake as yours. It doesn't have to be perfect. It will still be a cake. My cake is still a work in progress. I am working very hard, with what I have, to make my cake presentable. Please don't come along and try to write your name in my frosting. You may ruin my whole cake. I have to make my cake presentable. Presentable to God!
It was really neat watching her eyes light up as I explained all of this. Knowing that she truly understood the point I was trying to make. One more thing, we got so caught up in the lesson that night that we all missed one very important fact. NONEof us noticed after two days of eating this thing until YESTERDAY when Mendy, my sister-in-law, pointed it out from this picture Stacey had posted on Facebook. There are actually SIX layers in the cake! How did we all miss that? How funny is that? She baked two layers at a time, three times, one of which got stuck to the pan so she and the kids ate it. So, where did the sixth layer come from? Maybe God really isn't done with this lesson yet? I guarantee Stacey didn't do it on purpose!