I'M BAKING MY CAKE & EATING IT TOO! What about you?

Many people (including gluten-free folks) enjoy, like, and appreciate a good cake.  Whether that is for a party, a holiday, or celebration of sorts cake can make or break a gathering.   Whether you are a homemade butter cream icing cake consumer or a whipped creamed one, can we simply just start at a place of unity.....WE LIKE US SOME CAKE!

But the interesting thing about cake is that it's comprised of many things that on their own wouldn't be consumable or pleasant to consume.  Take for instance this recipe for my favorite type of cake (Yellow Cake with Chocolate or Fudge icing).

• 1 1/4 cups (160g) all-purpose flour
• 1 1/4 cups (135g) cake flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 2/3 cups (356g) granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup (6 oz) unsalted butter, softened
• 1/4 cup (2 oz) vegetable oil
• 3 large eggs
• 2 large egg yolks
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup (8 oz) buttermilk

So, consider each one of these ingredients as people or a person......do you have what it takes in your life to make something sweet?    Do you have people that are like eggs that have a thin shell, squishy insides, ideas, or theologies but have protein and other needed nutrients for making a delicious cake?  Do you have flour folks that depending on their make up are whole wheat or enriched with things that too are absolutely necessary to bringing a good cake together.   Sure on their own, they are really hard to consume and frankly have the ability to physically suffocate or choke you.   Now many of us love butter and folks that are smooth and velvety like them make life interesting.....far more than margarine.  And no cake can be made without the likes of sugar or some sweetener and vanilla to make it sweet and smell delightful!  Who are the people in your life that make living life sweeter, fragrant and wonderful?   Cakes need a pinch, or in this case 1/2 tsp of salt, and salt helps to preserve things.   Who are the people in your life that help to preserve relationships that need it, or that act as an antiseptic to the wounds that life may inflict?  Lastly, (and sure I didn't list all the ingredients because I know you are more than intelligent enough to gather where I'm going), who are the vegetable oil folks that help to make sure things that shouldn't stick, don't?  

Because the reality is once you have all the proper ingredients, just when you think your life is all set and settled, there's a firing/cooking element that will be intense and uncomfortable for all of us. The ingredients themselves go through a process where they come together after they've been whipped and blended.  
The recipe states it will take 45 minutes, but in life relationships....real healthy and authentic relationships are formed & forged and it takes more than 45min.  So, stop, look, and listen........

STOP and evaluate what are you missing to make your life sweet?  In order to do this you will need to first see (LOOK)who has the LORD placed already in your life that maybe you've rejected because they are different, or not like you.   And now LISTEN, you can't make anything meaningful if everybody is salty (except everyone sick) or all of your friends are syrupy sweet fellows...your friend/acquaintances/confidants should be as diverse as the ingredients to making a cake, because whether we know it or not, whether we want to our not......WE ARE ALL MAKING SOMETHING!  The question is what, and would we want to consume it, or serve it to those whom we love?