Living the Dash

Today I woke up determined to do absolutely nothing. Not because I was being lazy, but because I realized I’d be running for weeks. Between work, projects around the house, and life in general, I needed one day without a schedule. No deadlines. No appointments. No commitments. Just a day to breathe. I am on summer break after all.

The problem is… somewhere between waking up and deciding to do nothing, and about an hour later, I remembered something about myself.

I don’t know how to do nothing.

For my day of doing nothing, I decided to finally paint the cabinets in Dad’s bathroom. They were looking a little tired, and I had a vision. I’d even bought some new tractor-themed knobs that I knew he would love, and I couldn’t wait to see it all come together.

While I waited for the first coat of paint to dry, I thought, “Well… I might as well…”

Apparently those four words have gotten me into more projects than I care to admit.
So during my day of doing nothing, I also decided it was now the perfect time to try a new chocolate cobbler recipe I had seen online.

I wish I could tell you the chocolate cobbler came out looking like something straight out of Southern Living. Instead, it looked more like it belonged in the “Kitchen Disasters” edition. It won’t be winning any blue ribbons at the county fair anytime soon to say the least.

You see, the recipe does call for boiling water… a measured amount. It does not call for spilling it all over my fingers and sloshing extra into the pan.

Needless tos ay, the chocolate cobbler was immediately put on hold while I switched from baking to first aid.

Dad heard me from the other room and came to my aid as quickly as he could. While I stood at the sink with my hands under cool running water, he gathered up the aloe vera, burn spray, gauze, and tape, and then washed the dishes I had dirtied.

A little later, the hubs came home from work. He’d had a long, hot day (I honestly think the South is in a competition on who can have the most humidity right now), but once he realized what had happened, he stepped in to help. We bandaged my fingers, and he helped clean up the mess I’d left in Dad’s bathroom when my afternoon came to an abrupt stop.

As for the chocolate cobbler…
Well… let’s just say beauty skipped this dessert entirely.
But here’s the funny part… it actually tasted pretty good!

As I sat there with fingers wrapped up in gauze, a bathroom that was still only half painted, and the ugliest chocolate cobbler I’d ever made sitting on the counter, I couldn’t help but think about how much life is like that recipe.

We all have our plans.
Our schedules.
Our carefully measured ingredients.
We expect life to follow the recipe we’ve laid out.
But sometimes life spills boiling water all over the plan. Sometimes projects are left half finished. Sometimes there’s pain. Sometimes things don’t look anything like we imagined they would.

And yet… somehow… God still has a way of bringing sweetness out of the mess.

Today, that sweetness wasn’t just found in a chocolate cobbler that looked terrible but somehow tasted wonderful.

It was found in a Dad who heard his little girl cry out for help and came as quickly as he could. It was found in a husband who came home tired from work and stepped in to help. It was found in being reminded that I’m surrounded by people who love me.

If I’m being honest, accepting help has never been one of my strengths. I’m much more comfortable being the one taking care of everyone else. Maybe the lesson wasn’t about the burnt fingers or the ugly cobbler at all.

Maybe it was simply God’s way of reminding me that I don’t always have to be the one taking care of everyone else. Sometimes it’s okay to let people who love me take care of me, too.

The bathroom cabinet is still half painted.
My fingers are still bandaged.
The chocolate cobbler will never win a beauty contest.
But today reminded me of something far sweeter than dessert.

Sometimes life spills boiling water all over our carefully made plans. And when it does, don’t overlook the hands God sends to help clean up the mess.