I have not had any in over 30 years, but this week's prompt reminded me of the days when chocolate was my favorite indulgence, and led me down memory lane to a specific incident that happened during that time.
It was right before Christmas, long ago, when I went looking for a special gift for a very special friend.
Back then, Cadbury made huge, oversized chocolate bars, and she loved them all, so I decided the perfect gift would be one of each kind. They had five varieties--dairy milk, almond, fruit and nuts, caramel, and a fifth that I can't remember.
I made my purchase, wrapped them ever so carefully, and put them under the Christmas tree, bubbling with excitement as I anticipated her reaction when she opened the gift. I could hardly wait.
There were two issues, however, that I failed to consider, and that proved to be my undoing.
The first one was that I also loved those huge, oversized Cadbury bars, AND, my friend did not show up the day before Christmas as we had planned.
Christmas came and went, and after a few days of seeing that carefully wrapped gift sitting all alone under the tree, I could not take it any longer. It seemed to be calling my name, and after a brief struggle with my conscience, gluttony got the best of me.
With the greatest of care, I unwrapped the gift, slid out one Cadbury bar, and rewrapped the other four. She will never be the wiser, I rationalized.
When she still did not come, I wound up repeating this shameful process four more times.
When my friend finally dropped by, I had no gift to give her. Fortuately though, she was a real sport about it, and we ended up having a good chuckle.
To answer Andrew's question, I don't drink coffee, although I do love the smell of it.
Like his dog Sylvia, however, I too like coffee-flavored ice cream, and one of my favorite beverages is a coffee caramel milkshake made with Talenti cold brew coffee sorbetto, almond milk, and caramel sauce. Yum!
Well, that's all I have to say on the topic of coffee, so I'll keep this post short and sweet this week (pun intended).
Not sure if we're allowed to write two posts for our weekly FMF challenge. I've never seen anyone do that before, but these thoughts came to me after I posted my original one and I feel they are really important to share as well.
The last ten days or so were filled with many hassles and frustrations, which led to a greater recognition and appreciation of the blessings I tend to take for granted, as well as an important insight.
As far as some of the blessings I tend to take for granted--frustration that Sun Chips has added sugar to its original variant to convert it into a "savory sweet crunch" led to recognition that there are many other snack options to choose from. It made me think of how blessed we are to have such abundance and variety available to us in this part of the world.
An emergency "boil water" alert issued by our Town because there was a break in one of the pipelines, causing the water to become contaminated with bacteria, was annoying and inconvenient, but it was quickly fixed and within a couple of days we again had safe, clean drinking water, It made me think of the people in other parts of the world who do not have that luxury. Not only is the source of their water polluted, but many of them do not even have running water. They have to walk great distances to a river or other body of water and then fill and carry heavy jugs of it back home.
Those are just a couple of examples of the thoughts that were going through my mind as I drove to church on Sunday morning for my shift in the prayer room. As I prayed over the service, I thought of the false security many of us in this great nation feel about being able to go to church and openly worship the Lord without fear of persecution. Definitely not something we should ever take for granted.
Like many other churches these days, ours also has a security team that patrols the entrance to the building, the sanctuary, the lobby, the Sunday school classes, and the parking lot outside as well, but things can still happen.
Complacency is dangerous, and it is so important for us to recognize that, appearances to the contrary, there is a real enemy (Satan) silently prowling around looking for an opportunity to catch us off guard, No one is immune.
I got a wake up call to that truth just recently when a very dear friend, and one of the strongest women of faith I know, inadvertently allowed Satan to worm his way in through a chink in her armor and derail her. Who would hae thought.
The Word tells us to be alert and vigilant, and on our guard because in these end times, even the elect will be deceived. These are truths that are very real.
I exhort you to watch this livestream on the danger of deception and take heed to the warnings it contains.
Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. (1 Peter 5:8, NLT)
The thief comes only to seal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. (John 10:10, NIV)
Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. (James 4:7, ESV)
Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong. (1 Corinthians 16:13, NIV)
So be on your guard, not asleep like the others. Stay alert and be clearheaded. (1 Thessalonians 5:6, NLT)
Keep alert at all times. And pray that you might be strong enough to escape these coming horrors and stand before the Son of Man." (Luke 21:36, NLT)
For false messiahs and false prophets will rise up and perform great signs and wonders so as to deceive, if possible, even God's chosen ones. (Matthew 24:24, NLT)
Put on the whole armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. (Ephesians 6:11-12, NIV)
Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take. (Proverbs 3:5-6, NLT)
The town I live in has many Maple trees. A good many of them are on my street, which is called Maple Avenue. Today was a beautiful day, and the fall colors are peaking in my neck of the woods, so I decided to go on a photo shoot on my way home from church.
The maples are a familiar sight, but what I recognized today (only by the colors of their leaves), was that the name of the street notwithstanding, there are several other types of trees that live on Maple Avenue as well.
I kept pulling over to take pictures, and at several of the stops I made, drivers who didn't recognize that I had pulled over to take pictures thought I was in distress because they saw me get out of my car and start walking around with my cell phone (which is also my camera), and came by to see if I was okay or needed help.
It felt good to recognize that there are kind and caring people in my neighborhood.
Not only were the trees beautiful, but I recognized that even the leaves that had blown off were creating beauty where they lay on the ground below.
These are a few of my favorite shots (plus a cute mailbox and "Give Thanks" turkey that also caught my sight.
Who would have thought these wildflowers on my balcony still had the capacity to keep blooming even when the temperatures have dropped considerably, we've been having frost warnings, and they stopped getting watered after I brought the rest of the plants inside.
I'm guessing there are many of us who don't know what we have the capacity to do until we are faced with the very thing we fear, make it safely to the other side, and "I can't" becomes "I did it.".
Such is what happened to me several years ago as a result of faulty reasoning and a decision driven by fear that led to a far scarier outcome (almost two weeks on a ventilator) that I almost did not pull out of, and that could have been avoided had I not been so afraid. But God was good, and not only spared my life, but He also used the experience to teach me valuable lessons I might not have learned otherwise. (If you are interested in reading about it, you can click on this link to my post entitled Do Not Be Afraid.)
The two things I learned the hard way through this experience were to trust God instead of my own intellect, and to turn my fears over to Jesus and lean on His strength instead of my own whenever I don't feel I have the capacity to handle something I am about to face.
A third thing as well. Life is so much less stressful when I remember to do the above two.
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Don't be afraid, for I am with you. Don't be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand. (Isaiah 41:10, NLT)
Give your burdens to the LORD, and he will take care of you. He will not permit the godly to slip and fall. (Psalm 55:22, NLT)
Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you. (1 Peter 5:7, NLT)
For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength. (Philippians 4:13, NLT)
Trust in the LORD with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take. (Proverbs 3:5-6, NLT)
Great peace have those who love your law; nothing can make them stumble. (Psalm 119:165)
