Exchanging Cookies for Humility

I was so proud of myself. I changed my status on FB to “318 bite-sized gingerbread men—done!” Yes! I’d done it! I made the cookies, supervised the kids schooling, made lunch and it wasn’t even noon yet! Thanks be to God! I praised him for his grace and provision of patience and for my older kids who helped take care of the little ones so I could concentrate on my baking. I packed the cookies up in Tupperware and went about the rest of my day, content in my accomplishment, ready for the cookie exchange tonight. We finished school around 3pm. I went back out to the kitchen and gazed upon the little men. “They’d look so much cuter with a little drizzle of icing on them. Everyone will be so impressed!” I know it’s wrong. But as women I think we all struggle with wanting to amaze our friends. We tend to look to other women to validate us. If our house is clean, if we cook gourmet meals, if our kids are smart and our husband delights in us, then we are something. So I went about making the frosting. Proverbs 3:34 didn’t occur to me. It reads, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” I didn’t have any powdered sugar. No problem. I’ll just put some regular sugar in the blender. I didn’t have any waxed paper. No problem. I’ll just set them on the counter and clean it up later. At this point I wish I had remembered Proverbs 16:18 “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.” I didn’t. I set out all of the little men and started to drizzle. Except the icing was more gloppy than drizzly. “I know! I’ll shake red sprinkles on them. That will make them look better.” Except it didn’t. They now looked like gunshot-wounded, bite-sized gingerbread men. Hmpf. “Now what? Start over? I do have some leftover dough.” As I thought about what I should do I asked my self, “What went wrong?” Very clearly the voice inside me a.k.a. The Holy Spirit said, “You tried to steal my glory.” Ouch! I called a friend and relayed the whole story. She laughed and encouraged me to wrap up the wounded men, tie them with a bow, and attach a testimony. So here it is. A gift of gunshot wounded bite-sized gingerbread men given by a prideful, glory-seeking, sinner who, by the grace of her Savior, has learned again that the Glory belongs to the Father alone.
Praise be to God!