Have you ever felt divinely inspired to create something?
That’s what happened to me last month during Christmas. I felt a nudge to bake butter cookies and hand them out to friends and acquaintances to spread some holiday cheer.
In spite of my limited skills in the kitchen, the cookies turned out pretty good, though the recipe didn’t make nearly as many cookies as I thought it would. Possibly because my sister and I ate about a quarter of them after they came out of the oven…for research purposes, of course. (You can check out the recipe I used here.)
I bundled up the remaining cookies in Santa-themed treat bags. And, on Monday morning, I brought a bag to my neighbor, who I don’t know too well. She seemed delighted to receive a bag. “I smelled them baking this weekend!” she said. Mission accomplished. Cheer had been spread!
Read More: The Christmas Gift That Kept on Giving
Next, I left bags on the desks of my Mysterious Ways co-workers Adam Hunter and Dan Hoffman. They both seemed just as delighted as my neighbor. In fact, Dan ate about half his bag before lunch. I was so encouraged by the response that I decided to bake some more. I passed out the next batch of cookies to anyone who popped into my head as someone to give the gift of sugar too.
The more cookies I passed along, the more people popped into my head, from friends to people whose names I didn’t even know. Like the guy I buy my Diet Snapple from in the morning. Or the employees at Chipotle who sometimes add a free soda to my order. Or the cashier at my neighborhood corner store who jokingly rings up my order total as $500 when it’s really $5. There were so many people!
Suddenly I was overwhelmed. There was no way I could bake enough cookies for all of them.
And then it hit me. Maybe I didn’t have to. Maybe there was another gift I could give those people. One they might never know about, but could still work wonders. I could pray for them. And thank God for them. My way of sending a little cheer their way.
So, the cookie project continues, in the form of sweet prayers. And who knows? Maybe by Valentine’s Day I’ll figure out a way to bake enough cookies for everyone!
