The Crumb Cake

We are celebrating our first  grandchild's birthday today, she is two. I made her a cake, and put it in a fancy pan. The cake is a family favorite, the recipe passed down from my aunt. I was careful to grease the pan, getting all the creases and then flour. I was hopeful that the cake would not stick, but would just slide out of the pan and look beautiful. It baked nicely, smelled wonderful, and when it came out of the oven, I immediately began to wonder if I would be able to successfully transfer the cake from pan to plate. It looked challenging. I let it cool. I gave it some thought. I took a picture. I asked a few opinions. The cake sat, and cooled. Then, I flipped the pan over the plate, and, the cake broke into pieces! Hmm, it looks like we will be having Crumb Cake for our grandchild's birthday, with ice cream!
The whole cake thing reminded me of the journey of life, sometimes I can be working so hard to get myself all put together, nicely baked just right. Everything looks perfect until there's a shake up and God points out  the fact that I'm the one that did all the work. He turns things upside down and starts to rearrange things a bit, adding His grace, offering His strength. My weakness, like crumbs in a cake, become very evident, and I see more and more that the only way to really journey through life is to be weak and to lean on His strength and live by His grace. It's okay to eat Crumb Cake everyday, if it means I'm eating with Jesus!
Say That Again, Jesus, it is through You and Your strength, that all things are possible, and only through You. I am weak, but You are strong.

My grace is enough; it's all you need. My strength comes into it's own in your weakness. Once I heard that, I was glad to let it happen, I quit focusing on the handicap, and began appreciating the gift. It was a case of Christ's strength moving in on my weakness, 2 Corinthians 12:9