Holy Moments

"Seven eggs? Did you just say seven eggs?" I raised my eyebrows in almost disbelief.

"Yep! This is gonna be the biggest cake ever!" Ann replied with a smile on her face and a little bounce as she kept stirring.

Emilee and I were whipping the sugar into the butter as Jennifer was making the frosting. All seven of us were in my mom's little homey kitchen, laughing as we accidentally and repetitively bumped our backs into one another as we darted back and forth from the refrigerator to the sink to the hand towel to the trash can. As each of us worked on our specific task in this cake-making process, we carried at least ten different conversations at once.

"There are four sticks of butter in this cake!" someone announced.

"And three cups of sugar!" I added. "It really is gonna be the best birthday cake ever!"

As I listened to the chattering and laughter and felt the closeness of my friends and family together in our little blue and yellow kitchen, I paused for a moment just to absorb every emotion coming through all my senses. Emilee noticed and asked me, "What is it?"

"This..." I smiled as I stood still with a spatula frozen in my hand, batter dripping off the end."...This is just so great. Look at us - all together, baking, laughing, loving. This is a holy moment."

Over the past four years, God has developed relationships in my life that are like treasures to me. Those six girls in the kitchen with me have changed my life. They have taught me about sisterhood as we have learned to live life together in all its triumphs and turmoils. They have taught me about Christ as we have studied His Word and prayed together in formal and informal, organized and unorganized, planned and spontaneous settings. My best college memories are with them, and I think I just added one more to the list:

Mixing laughter and batter for Ann's epic strawberry birthday cake in my too-tiny-for seven-bakers kitchen.

One hour in the oven, several hours in the fridge, a box of strawberries, and three layers later, we came out with this masterpiece:

We sang happy birthday to Ann and rejoiced over her birthday as well as the birth of this heavenly dessert.

At the end of the day, Ann expressed the feeling we all felt when she said, "This day has been so good." It was a day filled with many holy moments: from singing on the top of Pinnacle Mountain to jamming out to worship music with the windows rolled down, playing nertz on the living room floor, dance parties with dad playing the drums, and laughing so hard you can't breathe because someone thought it was a good idea to attempt a two man somersault in the living room.

Holy moments are simple when you are suddenly aware of the presence of God. Sometimes it comes through worship and Scripture, but sometimes it comes through wind in the face, laughter on the lips, and frosting on the tips of fingers.

Thank you, butter and sugar, for making everything ten times more delicious.

Thank you, Pinterest, for giving us the best cake recipe ever.

Thank you, Ann, for being born - you really are such a joy to all of us. Your joy that comes from within is your radiant light.

Thank you, Jesus, for holy moments.