The chicken or the egg? Doesn't matter. They both came from Him.

"cook the meat well,

     mix in the spices..."

Ezekiel 24:10

I made something new for dinner last night ~ chicken satay.  I think it's Thai, but I'm not sure.  I've never had it before.  And I've never had a bit of Thai before.  But I stumbled on the recipe yesterday afternoon, and I realized I had all the ingredients for it, so I decided to give it a shot.

And it was great!  It was several steps, but easily done in a logical fashion to ensure everything was ready at the same time.  I had to make a marinade for the chicken, and then let that sit for awhile.  In the meantime I made the sauce that would go over the dish at the end, and I set that aside.  Then when the marinated chicken was ready to cook, I did that while I made the coconut rice.

My Amazing Boy came to help me, because it was rather like three different recipes I had to follow:  the marinade, the sauce, and the rice.  And when it was all done, we had created something delicious.

Several years ago, in a discussion a Bible Study, one of my friends made the interesting point that since we are created in God's image, we are created to create ~ a point I think I've celebrated before in this forum.   I love knowing that.  I love knowing that the joy we get out of creating brings us a little closer to Him.  Like maybe we get a glimpse of how He feels about what He has created.

But in a way, I didn't really create anything.  At least, I didn't create out of nothing, the way God does.  Really what I did was mix, combine, and assemble.  I can make a sauce, but I used things like oil, garlic, sugar, and salt.  I got all those from Him.  

I could build a building, but the raw materials would have to come from Him.

I can write, but language ~ sounds, letters, words... they were His idea. 

Literally, I can do nothing without Him. 

CS Lewis makes a beautiful point, using the comparison of a child going to his father, and asking for money to buy the father a birthday present.  The father would, of course, give the child some money, and would be pleased with whatever the child gave.  But at the same time, the father would know that he was instrumental in what the child had accomplished for him. 

Anything I do, I do through the Lord.  Anything I do for Him, comes first from Him.  The desire, the idea, the ability...  All I'm doing is combining, mixing, or assembling, to come up with the finished product. 

I think He loves seeing us create.  He loves watching us make use of the brains and abilities He has given us.  But I would imagine He also gets tired of being ignored or forgotten by us.  When we're proud of what we've accomplished, we are keeping for ourselves the glory that belongs to Him.  Makes me want to thank Him for all the ways I see His hand in my life, and all the ways I don't see.

~ "His hand upon me,

       all the works of these plans..." ~

1 Chronicles 28:19

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