Celebrate a Faithful Life

Celebrating A Faithful Life

This set of cookies celebrates a woman's life filled with the beauty of faith and grace.  As I dreamed on these cookies, I thought of the responsibilities of her life.  Daughter.  Pastor's wife.  Mother.  Teacher.  Counselor.  Friend.  In all of these she is a woman of faith.  More recently, an unbidden role crept into her life.  Cancer patient.  The family wailed and cried when the diagnosis of incurable ovarian cancer was determined.  For a while we refused to accept a new reality for her, a woman who was otherwise healthy and active, who went marching into retirement with dreams of travel, helping those in need and working in her beautiful garden.  This wasn't the plan!

Although travel was mostly set aside, and helping others became spoken encouragement instead of delivering Meals on Wheels, the call of the beauty and peace in the garden remained.  The two surgeries, endless rounds of chemo and perpetual needle sticks/IVs/exams became something not to be simply endured, but seen as tools, the hoes and herbicides, to manage and beat back the weeds of disease.  As these implements were welcomed, strength was gained and better health flourished.  She was able to tend her beloved day lilies and all her blooms.  The beauty there fed faith in God's grace, that love she relies on when the world says "all is lost."  The garden says "here is My beauty, offered to you now and eternally."   

This set of cookies celebrates my mother's life, filled with the beauty of faith and grace.  It represents her favorite day lilies, cone flowers, hydrangeas, and blueberries, little birds and rabbits.  I honor the life she gave me, her firstborn daughter, her love and gentle counsel through the years.  I am blessed by her respect for me, and the thousands of ways she has offered encouragement through the joy of our lives together and the pain of loss.  I celebrate my mother's love of God's beautiful garden of this earth and her faith in His eternity.   

I love you, Mom!

***These cookies are part of a collaborative project designed to honor Anita of Sweet Hope Cookies (https://www.facebook.com/SweetHopeCookies) for her tireless work on behalf of those living with ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease).  I have followed Anita's work for quite some time, and finally met her in Salt Lake City at Cookie Con.  She is full of joyous mischief, witty remarks and is a constant blur of action living her love for others out loud.  Anita works for support of ALS patients because her brother Randy died from the effects of this debilitating disease.  I feel a kinship with her, as my grandfather, my mother's father, was stricken with this illness when I was a young girl, and died a few years later.  It is my intent to follow Anita's path of generosity and deep care for others through cookies.  I find it quite apropos to celebrate the life of my mother while celebrating Anita's inspiration, as they each have added so much sweetness to this world!*** #CelebrateLife