I'm a follow-a-recipe type of person. While part of me that thinks this makes me more boring than the make-it-up-as-you-go types of cooks, another part of me finds real comfort and security in having a recipe to follow. It brings me peace to know that as long as I follow the recipe - assuming it's a good recipe - chances are that whatever the thing is I'm making should turn out okay. (Or if it doesn't, at least I can blame the recipe rather than my own lack of intuition or cooking abilities.)
It's like following a recipe gives me something outside myself to be able to hang on to. Something I can see and understand. Something that keeps me grounded. Something that guides me.
I wonder if in some ways truth is like a recipe. This illustration might not work as well if you are not a follow-a-recipe type of person, but if that's the case, maybe you can think of some regular kind of activity you do in which you find it helpful to follow some type of outside-yourself guidance.
For me, if truth is like a recipe, then trying to live without truth is a recipe for disaster (pun totally intended). It would be like me in the kitchen trying not to panic because I'm staring at a bunch of ingredients and feeling convinced that I have no idea how they are ever all going to come together into anything edible.
Without a recipe, those feelings of panic and overwhelm and fear and worry could easily take over. Now could I still feel worried even WITH a recipe? Sure. However, the recipe gives me something to focus on. It helps me take my mind to a better place.
Maybe for you, cooking doesn't lead you to those overpowering negative thoughts and feelings. But I bet all of us have something we do where we forget about what is true. Instead, we see a bunch of ingredients and have no idea how to put them all together. Where is the recipe? we might wonder. In these situations, focusing on the truth can be life-changing.
Unlike a recipe, the truth isn't always a formula. But it is something that comes from outside ourselves. It's not something we can just conjure up on our own. Sometimes claiming to know the truth can almost come across as arrogant these days. But going back to the recipe analogy, perhaps a key element is for me to admit that I didn't write the recipe. The reason I have confidence in following it is because someone else wrote it. I trust the person who wrote it, or the fact that I know other people have used it.
As we live our lives and face whatever challenges are before us today, let's ask God to lead us to what is true. Sometimes the truth feels hidden or hard to find, but just like God revealed truth in the person of Jesus, He often reveals truth to us through things we can see. He uses visible things to help us better understand invisible things. Kind of like following a good recipe leads us to good food.
Pray with me...
... Father, reveal what is true to the hearts and minds of everyone in the ACSD community
Send out your light and your truth; let them lead me; let them bring me to your holy hill and to your dwelling! Psalm 43:3 ... Jesus, when we struggle, help us to keep focused on what is true
Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Philippians 4:8
... Holy Spirit, guide our decisions and lead our schools in the direction You would have us go
But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. John 16:13
Pictured above: one of the many wonderful desserts made the amazingly talented Miss Rebekah Klase - while I don't know for sure if she is always a follow-the-recipe kind of person, I can certainly attest to the deliciousness of what she makes!
Thanks for taking the time to read this blog and pray for Alliance Christian School District! Lord willing, I plan to publish a new blog post weekly on Wednesdays throughout the school year. Feel free to subscribe (at the bottom of this page) if you'd like to be notified each time a new blog post has been published. We also have a prayer team that is always open for new pray-ers to join. If you'd like to learn more, email me at cwarner@alliancechristian.org.
~ Carrie Warner, ACSD Prayer Team Coordinator
Soli Deo Gloria
To God alone be the glory
