Chocolate Chip Cookies

Just the other night I was at a neighbor’s home enjoying their company and a nice dinner. As we finished eating, the lady of the house mixed up a batch of chocolate chip cookies and placed the first bunch in the oven. We sat at stools around the kitchen counter and talked and as the cookies began to get done, the aroma filled the kitchen and made our mouths water in anticipation. Fresh, hot cookies right out of the oven can hardly be beat.

There’s something about those kinds of things like cookies and homemade bread and a favorite recipe, that as they cook and you can smell the delicious aroma, you just know it’s going to be good. We move a little closer in preparation for the moment when our taste buds will be rewarded.

In the big Malls, the food vendors know of the draw the aroma their wares can have and try to position their stores, and the fans they use, to maximize the advantage. I think we instinctively know when something is going to be good and we seek it out.

A couple weeks ago, when I got up at 3am, there was a full moon and it was in the part of its lunar phase that it was just going down about then. I have a big window in my bedroom and it looks out over the back yard and the river. The moon was so big and so bright and it was just setting in the West right over the river. It was one of the most awesome pictures I have seen in some time.

There are other times in the early morning that I get to see some of the wonder of God’s creation that just leaves me breathless. The Northern Lights come to mind, and though we don’t get to see them much in this part of the country, when they do appear it is an incredible thing to witness. Maybe it’s a clear night with a billion stars all around or a fresh fallen snow with not a track in it yet. Sometimes I can get so overwhelmed with the scope and depth of this incredible world that I lose my equilibrium and my thoughts spin in wonder.


God’s creation is so amazing, I think of the Grand Canyon or the view from a remote mountain top. I think of the wild flowers that grow in the spring and the primrose that bloom in early summer. The bugle of a big bull Elk in fall, or the rush of streams in the spring. Watching an eagle dive in to the river and come up with a big fish is a sight to behold. Even a raging thunder storm can leave one in awe of the power of God.

As I thought of the cookies, and then all these other things, I began to think that maybe, just maybe, what we really have when we experience the beauty and incredible wonder of our Lord’s creation could really be like this delicious aroma for our souls. We instinctively try to draw a little closer. We scoot up a little nearer. I think God’s heaven is going to be so incredible. These creation experiences are just the Lord positioning his fans so the aroma of heaven tantalizes us. I can’t wait to sit at that table.