The Stress of Baking and Birthdays

My daughter turned 5 just after Christmas. Because most of her school friends were away we had her birthday party on the first Saturday of 2020. She asked for a Frozen themed party, because she absolutely loves Elsa.

As part of the themed party, she asked for an Elsa birthday cake, to which my wife agreed. It would be one of those cakes where a doll is in the middle of a round cake and then iced/frosted (mind the pun...) to look like the dress of said doll. How hard could it be?

Having seen my mum, a professional, do this pretty much every week while I was growing up, I thought it would be easy enough for my wife to produce this cake. However, we had a little last-minute getaway in Dorset for a couple of days in the week before the party and my wife had very little time to plan, order and get everything done. So I said I'll take the responsibility of baking and decorating the cake on my broad shoulders... How hard could it be?

Pretty hard, it turns out.

Not only did I manage to break our handheld electric mixer, I also should have had a practice run baking everything in the oven (which we're still figuring out after moving into our new flat a month ago). It turns out that the recipe I followed yielded less batter than I anticipated, so I had to mix up some more batter (after rushing out to buy a new mixer) and bake it, all on the day of the party.

Decorating the cake was also tricky, because it was my first go at doing this. Ever. It's fair to say we had very little room for error.

The thing that stressed me out the most, however, was not knowing if my daughter would like the cake. Would it live up to her expectations? Will she be pleased, or would I ruin her 5th birthday party and thereby destroy her whole life?

I often have the same questions about God. Am I living up to the expectations He has for me? Will He be pleased with me? What if He doesn't like what I've made or done with the gifts and abilities I have? What if I'm not good enough? What if I don't get it right and I am rejected?

Firstly, none of us are good enough. But through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, we are still welcomed by the Father. All of our mistakes, our misdeeds, our bad choices, were placed on Christ on the cross. There was a swop around on that day that still counts today.

Secondly, we don't have to get it right before we can approach God. We don't have to be perfect to come to the Father. We are invited as we are first, then we can be made perfect by His love. Belonging comes first, perfection comes as a result. Not the other way round.

May you know in 2020, above all else, that you are loved first, as you are. That, though you are not perfect, you are truly and deeply loved. And may this change the way you approach life this year.

It turns out I got lucky. My daughter loved the cake and she was pleased. More than pleased, actually. She proudly told everyone at the party that her daddy made the cake. And it tasted okay too.

Selah.