Today I made my first ever mug cake!! If you don’t know what a mug cake is, it’s pretty much the best thing ever…Cake, in a mug…what!!! So I was all excited as I mixed stuff together and thought to myself, “this is going on Snapchat when I’m done…OR Instagram…OR both?” The world has to see the awesomeness of my mug creation.
Well, it did’t get on either at the end because…it didn’t look the way I wanted it to. Don’t get me wrong, it tasted good…scratch that, it tasted great (seriously though, when has coffee not tasted amazing? Yes, i did have to start with a coffee flavored mug cake because you know me and my coffee!!haha). However, it just wasn’t appealing to the eye so it was not worth social media.
Then I stood there, thinking to myself how funny it is that we are so willing to share with the world when things are what we want them to be, when we are in control. It is so easy to post the achievements, the successes, the perfect make-up job, that outfit that you KNOW looks good on you (hello “ootd”, things “on fleek”). It becomes so easy to put on that face, that everything is awesome face for the likes.
I do it too, a lot!! I am reminded of a phrase that it common in Swaziland, loosely translating to the idea that one should sweep family dirt under the mat or the backyard, outside of the neighbors view. It’s an ‘honor’ thing, a pride thing even, to hide the mess and everything that is wrong behind the smiles and whatever else masks the bad.
For me this mug cake realization became an appreciation of the Mr who knows it all and still loves me – and everyone for that matter- unconditionally. Isn’t it so cool that our father in heaven will see the messed up mugcakes and still think we are the best at what we do? That he will see the tears, the bad hair days that never get posted, those times when we mess up in debate rounds, fail a test, fail at being loving or caring, the times when we cry so much our faces look like rivers of mascara flowing from our eyes to our neck. Think about it, those moments and situations that we would rather not share, the parts of ourselves that we would rather not share. He looks at those like our life is a constant Snapchat story depicting the good and the bad. Like his Instagram feed is constantly loading with images and short videos of every part of our lives. And, as he looks, he replays them over and over again, he likes and comments on how perfect everything is, how perfect we are, because he made us perfect.
I find myself lucky to remember today, and be reminded even by the smallest of things daily, how much I am loved and cared for. How much I am known and accepted by someone as grand as our Heavenly father. It’s these reminders that remind me that I AM loves me the way that I am and he loves you the way that you are too. He is always liking and favoriting (if that wasn’t a word before it is now) every moment of your life because that’s just the kind of guy He is
“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ” – Ephesians 2:4-5
#Thriving 