Attempt at Perfect

I’ve been distracted from blogging for a while. We’ve had quite a few visitors this month and have been keeping busy, but I’ve also been sick all week—which has given me some time to reflect on a few things.

A month ago, my roommate Katie told me about how some friends of hers dedicated an entire year to making the perfect batch of chocolate chip cookies. They would bake at least a batch a week, trying different recipes, playing with oven temperatures, tweaking measurements. The best part is that everyone got to be taste testers in the mean time.

So we decided that we should take on a challenge of our own, to use this year to “perfect” a culinary endeavor. What will mine be?

Scones.

For those of you who have not had the pleasure of trying one of these delectable foods (perhaps you were more of a muffin person when faced with the decision at Starbucks), scones are a British biscuit-like snack that many enjoy with tea. Personally, I treasure scones for how they contributed to one of my fondest memories growing up of having tea parties with my mom, grandma, and siblings.

I finally got around to baking a batch this weekend. Here’s the basic recipe I used, though had to make a few cultural adjustments (stores don’t sell baking soda or buttermilk; fortunately these are easy to substitute). 

They came out pretty great!

As I ate my tasty scone, I reflected on what it means to be made perfect. My scones tasted great already, but were they perfect? What would need to be changed about them to be without flaw? If people eat and enjoy them, does it really matter then if they are perfect?

To confess, I have been guilty of trying to make myself perfect. I recently discovered this (though not for the first time in my life) as I realized how worn out I was and how much I depend on affirmation from the things I am able to accomplish.

Key example: the first couple days of being sick, I felt really guilty for watching t.v. when I could have been working on something productive—emails, newsletters, this blog, even studying the Bible.

Yikes. This is when I realized that I need to relearn what it means to rely on God’s grace and remember that love is the greatest thing He’s asked from me.

A recent entry of a blog I subscribe to called The Resurgence puts it this way:

“…Our humanness is bound up in imperfection and that Jesus has perfected us by grace and thus we press on for his words of “Well done” and nobody else’s.”  

Long story short, I am not perfect and my scones will probably never be either, but both are still enjoyed despite their flaws!