Please, Let Me Win!

While shopping at Barnes & Noble, I wandered into the cafe for some tea and found a sign up sheet for a company sponsored bake-off. Specifically, cookie recipes were required. I love both baking and the B&N Cafe, and therefore felt uniquely qualified to develop a winning cookie. Batch after batch of test recipes filled the house with homely odors and happy children as by-product. I entered the recipe two hours before the final deadline, and all I can do is wait. Today is the last day of judging, and I keep checking my email in case they announce early.

There is a little voice in the back of my mind thinking, "Please let me win. Please let me win. Please let me win." It keeps drawing my attention away from the contest in front of me--homeschooling, raising kids in general, writing curriculum and a novel to the quick high of public acclaim. I've learned a lot as I've waited for news that may end up being an eloquent silence in my email. 1. I'm optimistic. I feel hopeful about winning. 2. When I focus on something, I focus. Refining my recipe is on-going even though the contest is closed to further submissions. 3. It only takes the tiniest bit of hope to get my imagination going. I keep imagining and reimagining  presenting my cookies, and telling people to buy them at the cafe. I imagine myself as a grandmother passing on this precious recipe to my grands.

This experience has reminded me that there is a contest we've already won. We are loved. All the work we do, that is so valuable and at times rewarding cannot compete with the joy of this treasure in hand. 

We should be... 1. Optimistic, everywhere are tokens of God's love for us. When the final judging takes place we will rest in his love. 2. Focused, on Christ and his love for us, and ever closer reflection of his image in our lives. 3. Inspired, we should see the light of Christ filling our lives and changing our world, for the better.