Mid-Week Message - Life's Recipe

"...all the days of my life were written in your book before one of the came to be."  Psalm 139:16b (NIV)

I am trying a new recipe today.  I don't know how it's going to turn out, but it sure does smell good.  I like all the individual contents, I just hope I like them all together.  It's a soup.  A healthy soup.  Something good for us rather than just filling.  As I was putting all the ingredients into the slow cooker and thinking whether I was going to like it or not, I thought about how that soup was a little bit like life.  

Have you ever been asked if you would go back in time and live life over again if you had the choice?  What was your answer?  Mine has always been either a flat out "no" or that I would do it only if I could know then what I know now.  There are certainly things in my past that I would not want to experience again.  If I could know ahead of time what would happen if I made certain choices, then I could avoid them and save myself a lot of heartache.  

I have to wonder though, how would my life change?  If I didn't fall in love with my first love, the one that broke my heart for the first time, what would I have missed out on?  Actually, there are some very precious memories from that time.  If I hadn't ever offended anyone or done anything wrong, I wouldn't know the unburdening feeling of forgiveness and I wouldn't have developed the skills to work through problems.  I guess it was positive for me to have those experiences after all.  

I have heard life compared to weaving.  If you look on the back side you will see loose threads and wonder what the weaver was thinking.  But, if you turn it over, you will see that all those threads come together to create a beautiful picture or pattern.  That is what life is like.  Good times and bad times are used by the Lord to make us more Christlike.  He takes all of our joys, sorrows, mistakes and frustrations and weaves them together to make something beautiful.

Tonight, as I eat my soup and taste all the individual flavors melding together, whether I like it or not, I will remember that before I was born, God saw this day in my life, as well as all of my yesterdays and tomorrows and loves what He sees.  What a wonderful thing to know!  God bless you!