Peppermint Meringue and What it Taught Me About Humility.

Yesterday, I made a Peppermint Meringue.

Let me rephrase that.

Yesterday, I TRIED to make a Peppermint Meringue.

It didn't go well.

I had no idea what went wrong! I thought I followed the recipe EXACTLY as it said to. but after beating that sucker for almost an hour and a half, (call me what you want, but I'm no quitter.) It still only resembled a slightly thicker and better smelling bowl of elmers glue. Like this:

See? Not a peak in sight! So I gave up and dumped the whole thing in the trash. Of course, I wasn't satisfied with not knowing what the problem was so I investigated. I found that although I followed the recipe to the T, I still made the meringue wrong. I added the sugar too quickly, and I added it too soon. So really, my meringue never had a chance.  It would have stayed this way no matter how long or fast I was beating it. I didn't have all the information I needed to be successful.

So I went on with my chores, and I thought about that darn Meringue all day long.  I thought about how I wished that I had had someone there to teach me how to do it correctly, and I realized that I had had that opportunity, and I didn't take it.  A woman from our church brought Ryan and I a pie yesterday as a thank you for helping her with her roof. It was delicious. Chocolate cream pie with a- you guessed it- meringue on top.  She made the whole thing from scratch and she was right there, RIGHT when I was freaking out over my bowl of paste, and I could have just asked her! I even thought about doing it but, I was too embarrassed to show her my messy house and my failure of a recipe.

I do this a lot.  I don't like being looked at like I'm dumb so I don't ask for help. I just act like I know what I'm doing until I can figure out how to make it look passable. I did it with school, I did it with sewing, I do it REGULARLY with Ryan, I did it with this stupid meringue, and I even do it in my relationship with Christ. Why do I do this? What is my problem?!?!? The answer is simple.

I'm a prideful person.

It's not the first time I've heard it. but I've never admitted how much of a problem it is. Pride really is the definition of getting in your own way  Being embarrassed? Being afraid of what someone will think of you? It's a vanity, and it prevents you from being the best that you can be.

So over the past 24 hours I've had this HUGE  piece of revelation dawn on me.but changing is a lot easier said than done.  How do you just stop being afraid? One of my favorite things I have ever heard is this. "Fear is the opposite of Faith." So in this situation, by being afraid of what others will think, that shows a lack of faith in my friends, and even worse, a lack of faith in myself. And it's all completely unfounded. They've never done anything to make me think that they wouldn't continue to love me, even if I was an imbecile. I am not stupid, so why would they think that I am? It's just a big bag of silliness. It's a waste of time. and I hate wasting time.  This guy said something really neat about discovering humility in ourselves. "We don't discover humility by thinking less of ourselves; We discover humility by thinking less about ourselves." So let's think less about ourselves, and think more of those around us. In every way.

Isn't it amazing what you can learn from a bowl of sugar and egg whites?

Testimony Tuesday- Faith

First of all. I'm fully aware that's it's Wednesday, although, the days are starting to run together.

I was trying to decide what to write about this week but every single thing I came up with was "blah, I hate that." or "ugh. I not this week." and THEN I saw that a couple of my blogger friends are starting a blog series called "Testimony Tuesday", where on the first Tuesday of every month, they write about a given topic. All members of different faiths are invited to join this blog series, and you can find the post to link up to here. By the time I actually decided that I wanted to join, it was too late for me to write on Tuesday, so here's my Testimony Tuesday one day late. For the record. I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. and you can learn more about my worldwide, 16 million member church, here.

This months topic is: Faith

I'm a big believer that music is one of my greatest teachers. There is a children's song sung in our church with the simple title of "Faith" It reads as thus:
1. Faith is knowing the sun will rise, lighting each new day.
Faith is knowing the Lord will hear, my prayers each time I pray.
Faith is like a little seed: If planted, it will grow.
Faith is a swelling within my heart.
When I do right, I know.

2. Faith is knowing I lived with God before my mortal birth.
Faith is knowing I can return when my life ends on earth.
Faith is trust in God above; In Christ, who showed the way.
Faith is strengthened; I feel it grow, whenever I obey.

This goes along with Hebrews 11:1 (KJV) "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."

Here we find the basic concept of faith. Faith is a knowledge of things that you cannot see but that you know to be true. Just as when the sun sets in the evening, we have know definite knowledge that the sun will rise again the next morning, but we believe that it will.

In the Book of Mormon, as well as the Bible, we compare faith to a seed. In Matthew 17:20 (KJV) Jesus says "If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you."

Faith is an incredible source of power. It gives us the power to move mountains if we believe that we can. It gives us power and strength to endure impossible trials that we would be unable to handle if we had no belief that there was a purpose to it and that it would be for our good. There is an OLD one woman show by Steven Kapp Perry called "Polly" and in one of the songs she says:

"Could you celebrate a birthday knowing life would soon be past you? Could you spend the sweat to build a house you knew would not outlast you? Could you bear to love the children, who would die before their season? We'd miss so much of happiness and maybe that's the reason not to know! To free us from the burden of the future, and make a space for joy!"

So that's the answer isn't it? Faith in God and Faith in His Plan allows us to have a fullness of joy in our lives. That one day, we will be free from our pains and afflictions. That even now, as we go through them, we are never alone. I love the peace that my faith brings to me and I love knowing that with that faith, comes a perfect brightness of hope.

~Cheryl