The new year is just around the corner, and whether that sends dread and apprehension racing down your spine, or giddy joy into your stomach, it's coming. And we can't stop it.
Not to sound ominous or anything (haha) but it really is coming - with probably a gross rest of winter and the beautiful spring we're all praying for.
A lot of people have been writing 2022 wrap-ups or making goals and choosing new words for 2023. It's the time of year for starting new workout routines and Bible reading plans and chore lists. It's the time of year that we hunker down and make goals and plans and dream for the future and actually put our plans into action with planners and new schedules and lists.
People make New Year's resolutions that they hope will change their whole next year and give them some semblance of control over the coming months that literally no one here on earth knows what will bring.
And sometimes, looking ahead to a whole year of unknowns and fears and blank space up ahead can be overwhelming and scary.
Scary because we don't have control and we can't plan out everything and no matter how many goals and resolutions we make, we can never prepare for the unknown twists and trials God throws at our lives.
But, there is Someone Who knows exactly what will happen and is with us through every single twist and turn, up and down, valley and high. Someone Who cares so much about us that He planned every single one of our steps before we were even born.
So, to remind you to stop worrying about 2023 and just relax in this moment God has given you - to remind you to stop obsessing over making goals and plans and let God have control - I've written up a little recipe that will hopefully make you smile, in it's very least.
And along with every good recipe, must come a good story.
[Disclaimer: this is completely and entirely a work of fiction, partially inspired by a Friend. Make at your own risk.]
An Intro
My aunt Cassandra was full of strange recipes when she was younger, and as the baker of our family, she never put any of them to shame. From her "Last Christmas' Wrapping Paper Fudge" to "Fourth of December Cupcakes" to "Countertop Fruitcake" and "Bathroom Sink Truffles" she made every recipe with gusto, following her own precise (or not-so-precise) instructions to a T... or a C.
As her recipe names may conclude, she was one of the most carefree, spunky, energetic and live-life-all-the-way kinds of people I knew. Her dark red hair with random green or gold or blue highlights depending on what year it was and what football team she liked, and the constantly changing state of her many pairs of white - I mean every-color-but-white - jeans, always told a story.
Everything she did told a story.
Like how she listened to certain music while making certain recipes, such as only listening to rap while making crepes, and pop while making meringues. Or how she had a different apron for every day of the week, and different hair ties for different baking sessions in different seasons.
Actually, everything she did had a reason and a purpose and told a story, about her, about who she loved, about the people she was baking for, about the people she was baking with.
She also said that every time she made something it was a little different, and everything she made had its own story. That's what made baking with her or cleaning up after baking with her - or even just talking with her - so interesting.
She was interested in everyone's, and everything's, story. No matter how big or how small, she always cared, and she made you feel loved and seen and important through something as simple as listening, and baking.
Keep Baking
My favorite recipe of hers was "Whatever-Year-It-Is-Next-Year Cake." She made it every year after Christmas, before New Years, and I always made it with her. It was my favorite tradition.
Until her story came to a beautiful, but heart-wrenching end, and she wasn't there to bake it with me.
I almost couldn't bring myself to bake it that year. It was too hard without her signature music picks and crazy hair ties and flouncy red hair. But a life as beautiful and story-filled as hers doesn't just end and disappear. It's alive in her messy recipe cards and the smell of her perfume on the flour bag and the mixer.
It's alive in the stories she left behind.
And I knew she would have wanted me to keep living and keep loving stories and lives and beauty, no matter how small or insignificant. No matter what the next year held, no matter how many unknowns or unplanneds or unseens there were, no matter how many confusing and terribly sad stories I didn't know how to handle, she just wanted me to keep baking.
And loving life and the people her Savior had placed in it.
A Little Tweak
As I lifted out her almond-scented, flour-covered, frosting-encrusted recipe card that was worn and crumpled and even had a bite out of one corner, I decided to tweak it the tiniest bit and make my own Aunt Cassandra recipe that would do her proud.
So, here it is for you, so that you can throw a little bit of love and life and sparkle into this next year, remembering that stories and lives are far more important than anything else.
And love, is always the strongest ingredient.
The Recipe
Wet Ingredients
10 T Dancing
2 Raindrops
3 Beams Of Sunshine
a quarter gallon of Joy
Dry Ingredients
3/4 c Trust
6/8 c Faith
12/16 c Hope
1 heaping c Courage
5 c Purpose
3 sticks Dedication
a bushel full of Love
For The Frosting
2 boiling c Laughter
1 shaken bottle of Crazy
1 tsp Spontaneity and Spunk
1 tsp Sharp Wit and Quick Humor
Instructions
Preheat oven to 1,123 degrees Fahrenheit. (Yes, I know that's high, but you want this thing to bake fast, don't you?)
Combine all wet ingredients in the biggest bowl you have and mix at ultimate top speed for as long as it takes your favorite song to play. That entire time you have to sit down and list off everything you're thankful for, or the mixing process won't work. If anything spills, add paper towels and running water to your list of things to be thankful for.
Set aside and listen to your second favorite song, dancing the whole time like no one's watching - by the end you should be sweaty and out of breath. If not, repeat.
Once you're sweaty and out of breath and had to pull your hair back, you can add in the Trust, Faith, and Hope, mixing thoroughly with NO music on in the background. It should take you a while to get the batter smooth and creamy, so pray and think about what a blessing it is that you never do anything alone.
As soon as the batter is thoroughly mixed and smooth, pour into a piping bag and then pipe evenly and beautifully over all five cups of Purpose.
Let that sit and prepare the Dedication. Melt one stick in ten-second increments until fully melted - DO NOT RUSH or the Dedication will be entirely ruined. When the first stick is completely melted, repeat with the second stick. Once again, don't rush. Repeat with the third stick - remember, only ten-second increments.
Once all the Dedication is perfectly melted, spoon into the rest of the batter one teaspoon at a time. Then mix thoroughly.
When all the batter is mixed it should have a nice look, but no flavor. That's when you throw in the bushel of Love. Mix as crazily and wildly as possible and warn others to watch our for flying Love pieces.
As soon as the Love is totally and fully incorporated, you are allowed to taste the batter.
Place the rest of the batter in 4 cake pans and bake for 23 minutes
While it's baking, prepare the frosting: first, boil the Laughter. After it boils for 20 seconds, add in 1 tsp of Spontaneity and Spunk and 1 tsp of Sharp Wit and Quick Humor. Let boil for another 23 seconds, and then take off heat and add 1 shaken bottle of Crazy and let sit. Should be smooth, frothy, and delicious. Color based on the number of shakes to the Crazy.
When the cakes are pink-ish purple and fun to the touch, take out and cool by blowing on them until they're more pink than purple. Frost at your own pleasure, and then stack into a four-tiered cake.
Frost on four numbers: a 2 on the top cake, a 0 on the second, another 2 on the thrid, and a 3 on the bottom.
Eat, cool, freeze - do whatever you like, but most importantly, share with friends.
Conclusion
Now of course this was just a fun little story and recipe, but I think it's very important that we remember these key ingredients in this coming year.
Our lives are not determined by goals or resolutions. We can never make our plans perfect, and our lives never end up being perfect either. And sometimes, the more we plan and the more we do, the less control we feel like we have and the more stressed we are!
The only thing we have any assurance about is that God is with us, and He has a plan.
And He loves us.
That's all we need. And I am excited and prepared to go into 2023 knowing that He is walking beside me, He has a plan for every single one of my days, and His plans are always best. Always.
So as we get ready for a new year and some changes, maybe good or bad, let's never forget to have gallons of joy and tablespoons of dancing and heaping cups of courage.
Most especially, don't forget that bushel of love.
And if you're wondering the name of that recipe, the girl from the story named it "2023 Cake."