A Great Gift

Have you ever had a gift that you just could not wait to give someone? A gift you knew would be perfect, one that someone had been desperately wanting and anxiously hoping for. A gift you were waiting for the perfect moment to give only to have the surprise blown or worse, discover the gift was no longer wanted. For example, there have been several times after dinner that I wanted to surprise my kids with a special dessert. As I'm secretly making plans to treat them to bowls of ice cream, I head toward the freezer and just as I reach for the handle one of them yells, "Can we have ice cream??" Ugggh! I wanted to be the one to whip out the ice cream and say, "Hey kids! Guess what?! I love you and want you to have a treat!" But no, some eager little eyes spied me heading toward the freezer, blurted out the treat and ruined my surprise!


Other times we have planned surprise trips for our kids to a park. All week long they might be asking to go to the park but as we are getting them up and ready to leave (without telling them of the surprise) they are grumbling about wanting to just stay home and play in the backyard. With the car ride full of bad attitudes we pull up to the park and question our decision to "treat" our kids. Once they realize where we are, they perk up and are then thankful. But to think they were asking to just stay home, to play in a boring, fenced in back yard when a kid utopia of open fields and huge playgrounds awaited them.

How often are we like children that try to guess our Heavenly Father's plans or question (while complaining about) the path's He has chosen for us? Today at Bible study Priscilla Shirer spoke about the Israelites being led through the wilderness on their way to the "Promised Land" when it occurred to me that God wanted them all to make it there. He wanted to treat them to the land of milk and honey. He wasn't the reason so few made it to Canaan, it was because of the poor choices the Israelites made and their bad attitudes that kept them from entering the place God had prepared for them. He provided them with everything necessary to make the trip: a guide during the day, manna to eat, clothes and shoes that did not wear, a guide at night and protection from harm but the Israelites still grumbled and complained. I can imagine the conversations that were had among them, "I am so sick of camping! I'm tired of this manna! I'm over my clothes and Egypt was so much better than this place!" What scares me though is knowing that I would have done some of the complaining. I would have been in the back of the line with my arms crossed, brow furrowed and sandaled foot tapping wondering aloud why we didn't take that short cut 39 1/2 years ago and wanting proof that this so-called "Promised Land" really existed. Show me the honey!

Thankfully God has not led me through a 40-year wilderness yet. I hope when I find myself there I will still praise His name, speak of His goodness and trust completely that He has my best interest in mind so that when He does take me to my Promised Land my heart will be full of joy and contentment not grumbling and complaining as I hear Him say, "Surprise! I've been waiting so long to give you all of this! Enjoy! I love you!"

May not be milk and honey but it's still yummy for dinner: Lasagna with bread sticks and salad.

Lasagna
1 pkg mild Italian sausage (about 1 1/4 lb)
1 large jar spaghetti sauce
1 (15 oz) container Ricotta cheese
1 (8 oz) pkg lasagna noodles
2 eggs, beaten
2 cups Mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cook noodles according to package directions, drain and set aside. Remove sausage from casings and brown over medium-high heat then drain. Add sausage back to pan and combine with spaghetti sauce. In a large bowl combine Ricotta, Parmesan, 1 cup of Mozzarella and eggs. Place one cup of meat sauce on the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish then layer 1/3 (3) of the noodles on top then 1/2 of the cheese mixture. Repeat layers again then top with remaining 1/3 noodles and meat sauce. Cover with foil and bake 30 minutes. Remove foil sprinkle with remaining Mozzarella cheese and bake until cheese is melted. Allow to sit for 10 minutes before serving. Serve with salad and bread sticks.