Can't go wrong with cream cheese frosting

"You shall offer up a cake"

Numbers 15:20

How was your Easter?  Family?  Food?  Filled with gratitude?  I hope all of the above.

We went to church (of course) and then to my folks' house for dinner.  Ham, which of course is practically required, and was sooo delicious.  And cauliflower and Brussels sprouts and candied carrots and crescent rolls. 

We all kind of split the cooking, sort of going with our specialties, but dessert was an experiment on my part.  A recipe I read about that called for angel food cake mix, and crushed pineapple.  That's it.  Just combine the two, stir and bake.  We ate it with strawberries and toasted coconut, all of which is a great combination.

It reminded me of a cake I haven't made in a long time ~ something I learned when I was in elementary school, and then became "famous" for.  {Please know that I use that term very, very lightly.}

It was called a "Hawaiian Wedding Cake" and it was this wonderful creation that called for crushed pineapple and coconut and crushed pistachios.  And a cream cheese frosting.  So yum.  I made it for a cooking competition at school, when I was in 8th grade.  I won for my division, so I got to enter it in the countywide competition, and won there, too.  I still have the trophy, to amaze my friends and impress my relatives. 

{It's either that, or I keep telling the story of the sting ray I caught 

when I was fishing off the coast of North Carolina.  When I was twelve.  

Those are my two biggest claims to fame.  Sad, I know...}

Anyhow, this wonderful cake that won prizes and adulation had a flaw.  A fairly substantial one.  Because our oven wouldn't heat properly, the cake didn't rise on one side.  It was cooked all the way through, but there was a definite slope from one side to the other.  (This cake is cooked in a 9 x 13 pan, so it was hard to miss the slope.)

So my mother had the genius idea to simply frost a little extra on the low side.  It made it nearly impossible to tell that there had a been a problem with the the cake.   Unless, of course, you cut it.  Which, of course, the judges did. 

But either the judges cut it on the other side, or the cake was so delicious they didn't care that it was crooked, because ~ hello, did I mention my trophy?  And for years, my family joked that the way to solve any problem was just to add more frosting on one side.  A little extra frosting can be the answer to anything!

This is the effect of the Jesus in our lives.  This is the beauty of the Holy Spirit in us.  He fills in the holes, strengthens our weaknesses, and smooths out our flaws.  He protects others from us, more than we know.  Have you ever apologized to someone, maybe for being short-tempered or something, and had them say, "I didn't even notice."  That's Him.  And He protects you, too, from people and situations around you. 

Not all the time, of course.  We are flawed, and short-tempered, and thoughtless, and we are sometimes going to hurt others, and sometimes be hurt by them.  But we'll never know all the ways He makes us better than we are, simply by our being in Him.

~ "Hezekiah prayed for them, saying,

'May the good Lord provide atonement for everyone'" ~

2 Chronicles 30:18

~