“that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us,” Acts 17:27
I am not a caterer, but sometimes it feels as if I am. I love to bake and cook. Between frequent guests, dinners at church and taking meals to a few locals on a routine basis, both of my refrigerators remain full and chaotic (that is, perhaps, an understatement of the condition of my refrigerators!).
My main refrigerator stands tall in my kitchen, quite pristine looking from the outside. In the basement a nearly identical refrigerator makes its home. Sharp, stainless steel appliances, ready to serve, containing only items I have purchased and placed within.
And that is where the frustration begins. I make the purchases, I fill the frig, and often I cannot find what I am looking for. Did I put it upstairs or downstairs? I remember putting it downstairs, so I run down the stairs to the basement frig. I look at all the items. On every shelf. In every drawer. Hmm. Can’t find it. Must be upstairs. Run back upstairs. Look at every item in the upstairs frig. On every shelf. In every drawer. Hmm. I remember buying it. I remember putting it . . .somewhere.
Invariably I find the missing items, because I did, indeed, buy them. I know, I know, better organization and cleaning out the refrigerators more frequently could cut down on the exercise of running the stairs. That is a topic for another day. Today’s topic is finding something that is truly right in front of you.
Twice over the weekend I couldn’t find items that really were right in front of me. I looked and looked for a package of mushrooms that had wiggled their way behind a large ham. Did I move the ham and look behind it? Well, maybe not. Because on the third try, low and behold, there were the mushrooms. Likewise, or almost likewise, leftover berries evaded my first three attempts to find them not because they were behind something else, but because I thought I put them in a blue serving dish covered with cellophane, only to discover they were in a deep red container with a glass lid.
Finding things can be difficult when they are not where you expect them to be or don’t look the way you expect them to look. Sometimes we never find them, if we give up looking because our expectations make us believe the item must have vanished into thin air. Or we second guess ourselves, wondering if we ever bought those mushrooms in the first place.
What are you looking for? A job? A better job? A new house? A better spouse? Any spouse at all? A place of quiet? More activity in your life? Love? God? A God who answers your prayers by giving you exactly what you ask for?
It’s not exactly hide & seek, but many people spend their entire lives looking for . . . something. Living wistfully, almost happily, feeling like the ‘something’ they are seeking is just beyond their reach. In Acts chapter 17 Paul is speaking to a group of people who fit this description. He stands in Athens at the Aeropagus looking at all the altars to various gods. He watches people pick and choose where to offer sacrifice so they can get whatever it is they desire, from fertility to fame and fortune. He listens to them discuss various philosophies and ideas, all in an effort to find the elusive ‘something’ that will bring them peace.
Paul watches and listens, and then he speaks. The people of Athens believe Paul is bringing them one more message, one more god to worship or contemplate, but what Paul gives them is truth. Not many gods, one god. One creator who knows them and loves them. One God who is findable, accessible and knowable. One God who is truly right in front of them if they choose to see Him. By the end of the chapter, some of the Athenians have discovered what they were looking for.
Sadly, many of the Athenians mocked Paul’s message of truth, preferring to assume that God would never be hiding behind a ham. Because of the message of the resurrection the Athenians refused to believe the truth; they could not accept the message in a different container than they were used to.
So, what are you looking for, and will you recognize it when you find it? I’ve been looking for signs of spring. My morning dawned gray and overcast, damp and a little cool. I was running a little late for an appointment and almost missed the white flowering dogwood tree. There it was, right in front of me, once I slowed down to see it.
You may be looking for a specific job or house or spouse or place to retire, but what if God has a different floor plan or road map for you, hidden right in front of you? Sometimes we miss seeing something because we are going too fast. Sometimes we miss it because we are looking beyond it, or around it, or it is so familiar we can’t see that it is right there.
Before Paul stood in Athens telling people about Jesus, he was on a different road, heading to Damascus. He thought he knew exactly where he was heading and why, but God had a different plan for him. Dramatically, miraculously God got Paul’s attention and revealed Himself to Paul by blinding Paul’s eyes. God was right in front of Paul, but Paul could not see Him. Ironically it was Paul’s blindness that opened his eyes to the truth of Jesus, something that had been right in front of him all along.
Most of us will not have the kind of blinding experience with God that Paul had on the Damascus Road, but I believe God wants to be found by all of us. As Paul tells the Athenians:
“The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us,” Acts 17:25-27
My prayer is that you find God today, that you see His love and care and provision for you in the things all around you, maybe things that are right in front of you already.
Today’s recipe is an oldie but goodie that was hiding right in front of my face. It is across the page from a recipe I make frequently. My gaze is often on page 195 of Betty Crocker’s New Picture Cookbook, first edition published in 1961. In plain view on page 194 I finally spotted and remembered the Toffee Squares recipe my mom used to make. What a find! These are incredibly easy to make and wonderful to share with friends.
Toffee Squares
- 1 cup butter, softened
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 cups Gold Medal flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 bag milk chocolate chips*
- 1/2 cup chopped pecans
Heat oven to 350*
Cream butter and sugar in stand mixer. Add egg yolk and vanilla. Mix in flour and salt, mixing until batter comes together. Dough should be workable.
Grease a baking sheet. Spread dough into a rectangle, leaving space between the dough and the edges. Dough should be pressed evenly, about 3/8” high. Bake 20-25 minutes, dough may still be soft.
Remove from oven and sprinkle chocolate over the entire bar immediately. As chocolate melts, use a knife to spread across the bar. Sprinkle with nuts. Cut into squares while still warm.
These are a shortbread type square so crunchy edges and soft middles are good! If you want them more cake like, spread batter in 13×9” pan and bake 25-30 minutes.
- Original recipe calls for 3-4 milk chocolate bars that you cut up. I found that milk chocolate chips work easily! That being said, feel free to experiment with whatever chocolate you have at home! Dark chocolate makes a delightful twist on the recipe. I used cut up Hershey’s kisses and chips this time!
