Confession: a starting point...

I have a confession to make: if you have ever eaten something I have cooked, I have definitely licked the spoon. Some people are mentally high-fiving me right now ("you mean I'm not the only one?") while others are cringing with the thought that they may have eaten post-saliva'd food. Regardless of your reaction, I'm certainly not ashamed. 

When I contemplated beginning a blog, there were many names that ran through my head but I knew if I wanted to pit myself out in the open for readers to see, I wanted something that described me down to the core. The truth is life is all about savoring the small moments, and I am terrible at that. My mental day normally looks something like waking up, getting ready for the day, and then beginning a long list of mental worries about something that isn't happening today (chances are not tomorrow either and honestly maybe not ever). While in the course of my day, I feel like I fly on autopilot because while I'm living in the present, my thoughts are in another dimension. So much of my day goes by without me ever stopping to "savor" what is happening right at that moment.  My students make new connections, my daughters gain a new word or build new toddler-world concepts, my husband researches and successfully tackles a new project, and me? I'm in left field only catching small tidbits of what is really going on.

So back to the blog title: God is using moment after moment in my life to remind me that each moment of my day is worth savoring, and each worry that I have is not worth a lick (pardon the pun). In cooking terms, you could say I have been living life waiting for my recipe to finish but never stopping to enjoy the ingredients on their own, never watching the transformation of the ingredients into something new, never smelling the aroma along the way... Just waiting for the oven timer to ding so I can look at my creation and critique it. 

That's so not me (at least not in the kitchen). I snack on the ingredients from the first one to the last, and constantly lick the spoon along the way. Now we can handle the unhealthy calorie contents of this habit in another post, but as for now, I'm claiming this as a goal for my daily life: I want to stop and 'taste' every moment of every day. I want to quit worrying about the end product and better enjoy the process.

I think that David was on to something when he penned this verse: 
Psalm 34:8 O taste and see that the Lord is good; How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!

God's goodness isn't only seen in the end product of situations, but also in the midst of them. How He must crave for us to look at every moment of our daily 'recipes' and taste His goodness instead of droning mindlessly to the end of a situation. Taking refuge in God means that we can trust that the end product will be fine regardless of our worries, so why not taste his goodness along the way?

So, thus the title: Spit Cooks Out.
I'm challenging myself to throw worries to the wind and do some tasting along the way. Life is too good to ignore the simple flavors.

I apologize in advance for any spit you may encounter if I ever cook for you, but please be understanding in knowing that I have enjoyed the little blessings along the way.

So, be a little bold. Do some tasting of your own. A few licks certainly won't hurt.

Until next time,
Kat