Why would anyone let a 4 year old make cookies?

A few days ago I let my 4 year old daughter help me make chocolate chip cookies.  Oh, the mess!  There were piles of flour, puddles of vanilla and splatters of egg yolks all over the kitchen.  Although I didn’t love cleaning it up, I wasn’t upset.  The mess was more than worth it for the tiny memory we had made.

And that’s when the Lord opened my heart and poured in a beautiful revelation.

 

Carrie, He said, I have invited you to work with Me.  And you sometimes make a mess of things.  But that doesn’t surprise me or upset me.  In fact, I knew you would do that before I asked.  I don’t involve you in My work because you are perfect, highly skilled or even necessary.  I involve you because I want to spend time with you.  Because I want to teach you something.  Because I find joy in watching you learn and grow. 

Wow.

So what work are you doing with the Lord?

Raising children?

Leading your wife?

Serving elderly parents?

Leading a ministry?

Being a light in a dark place?

Homeschooling?

Healing a broken relationship?

You might… you will do it imperfectly.  But do it anyway.  The Lord God Himself has taken you by the hand, invited you into His work and given you the tools you need.  He stands at the ready to help, to teach and, yes even to fix what goes wrong.

Thus says God the LORD, Who created the heavens and stretched them out, Who spread out the earth and its offspring, Who gives breath to the people on it And spirit to those who walk in it, “I am the LORD, I have called you in righteousness, I will also hold you by the hand and watch over you...”  (Isaiah 42:5,6)