My kids LOVE baking cookies. Yes, I know you can make them from scratch, and every Christmas season we get out the mixing bowls, chocolate chips, and end up covered in flour from head to toe. But for normal everyday life, we go for the good ol’ roll of cookie dough that comes from the grocery store. We’ve got a plan: cookie sheets, cookies, spatula, and a pre-set oven. We slice some dough off the roll (sometimes sneaking a nibble from one or two) and lay the chunks neatly in rows on the cookie sheet. Into the oven they go, with expectant eyes peering through the glass on the oven door.
As the timer ticks down, I can just see the kids itching to open the oven door. They know the cookies aren’t ready. And they DEFINITELY don’t understand that opening the oven door actually adds baking time on so the oven can climb back up to temperature! They get antsy, and next thing you know, they’re running around my kitchen like chickens with their heads cut off because the wait is driving them insane! (Look here heathens, can you not wait 9-11 minutes?!?!) To add fuel to the fire, in comes the hubs, opening the fridge door to make sure we have an entire gallon to dunk the cookies in.
I admit, sometimes even I crack under pressure and take the cookies out too early. You know what’s coming next. They look like they’re done. They may even be a little brown around the edges, but as soon as you jab that spatula underneath, you know they’re not ready. They don’t come off the pan easily, they flop into one big messy heap, or the center isn’t completely cooked. Yes, the chocolate is gooey, but for the overall finished product it just wasn’t time. Back in the oven they go, and you pray you didn’t screw them up too badly. The great thing is if we just let them cook, when it’s time, yes, truly time, those cookies are glorious. Scrumptious. Oooey gooey and mouth-watering.
Better than we imagined.
They are exactly what we needed for that moment.
And then there’s us. Waiting on God. Waiting for cookies. You see, He has a plan for something wonderful for you. He has prepared it. He has gathered up His tools, is lining everything up neatly in rows and His plan is now in the oven. It doesn’t matter that you look around and don’t see anything going on. His Word promises us that He has a plan! Jeremiah 29:11 says “I know the plans I have for you.” Now how can He know plans if He doesn’t have any? That’s just it! If He KNOWS plans, that means He HAS plans! We don’t need to meddle in those plans, rather, we wait expectantly, ready, prepared for when they’re finally handed lovingly to us. You don’t have to feel defeated just because you don’t know what the plan is. Just trust that there IS a plan because God Himself has promised it.
I know you want to peek in and see what’s going on. I know you want to know God’s plan and have it right in your hand. I know you want to take the “cookies” out and have them now, but you—we—need to wait! Whatever God’s working on for you is still “in the oven.” It doesn’t mean there’s no plan just because you can’t see through the glass. It just means the timing isn’t right for that perfect plan to be handed over to you. But when it’s right? Just like those cookies, it will be perfection. It’ll be amazing. Better than you ever dreamed. And the timing will be perfect.
XOXO,
Karen
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