Cracked Sugar Cookies

     The Christmas music plays throughout the house. The tree is placed in front of the window, and the box of decorations is opened. As I look into the box, I reach for a fragile homemade sugar cookie. As I hold it in my hand, my mind wanders back in time . A time when three little boys stood on a chair cutting shapes out of cookie dough. A time when  hearts, crosses, and gingerbread men were sprinkled with red sugar and placed in the oven. Three little faces beamed  with joy as they waited for the cookies to cool. I can still see their smiles as they hung their cookies on the tree. Even though my boys are grown now, they can still look at the cookies they made so long ago. They aren't all perfectly shaped, and some have more sugar on them then others, but they were all baked with love! They are all special to me! Each one brings back memories of the life God has allowed us to share together. If you look closely, you can see cracks in some of the cookies. Yes, there was the time the basketball decided to fly through the house and hit a cookie, the "lets push our brother into the tree" crack, and other cracks that made their way to the cookies. I'd glue them back together and hang them back on the tree. Some of the cookies were to broken to be hung back on the tree. I couldn't stand to throw them away ...there was so much fun memories and love involved in making them. Even the broken pieces meant something to me. So I put the broken ones into a pretty bowl and sat them on the coffee table to be looked at. That way if people asked me what was up with the pieces of cookies and red sugar in the bowl, I can share with them all the good and bad times we had shared  together. whether hanging on the tree, or placed in the bowl for decoration...they were still precious to me!

     Do you know that no matter how broken your life is, God still loves you and can use you? He created you and gave his son to die for you! He sees all your imperfections and cracks and loves you anyway. When he created you, he knew there would be cracks along the way. As you spend time with him, he will shape you the way he wants you. He may want you to be a heart or a gingerbread man. He will decorate you with sprinkles of his love..maybe red or maybe green. You may not be perfect and life may have thrown you a few cracks...but you are just as special to God as the day he made you! Maybe like the basketball-you were hit with something that completely destroyed you..maybe a divorce, the loss of a job...or a death! Don't give up just because you fell off the tree! Maybe God has another plan for you. He may want to take the broken pieces of your life and place them in a bowl on the table so others who have been broken can be encouraged! As you share the story of your broken life and how God didn't throw you away, maybe someone will give their life to Christ! Someone is broken...they need to know God can fix them. They need to know that Jesus Christ died to save them and he can reshape their life! He can decorate them with his peace and love. Gods children are all beautiful to him! You may be a cracked cookie...but you are precious to him!

Psalm 139:17 How precious are your thoughts about me O God

 Z...for Zeb....and because of my grandbaby...the memories live on....Merry Christmas Mamaws boy...I love you.....