Awe enables us to see in the world intimations of the divine,
to sense in small things the beginning of infinite significance,
to sense the ultimate in the common and the simple,
to feel in the rush of the passing the stillness of the eternal.
—Abraham Joshua Heschel
Do you decorate cut-out cookies BEFORE or AFTER you bake them?
Growing up, we decorated our cut-out cookies before they went into the oven.
The colored sugars and candy sprinkles melted into the dough as the cookies baked. This meant there was no “part two” for the decorating process. More importantly, we only had to wait for the cookies to cool before we could sample our creations.
About 15 years ago, my sister-in-law shared her cookie recipe after we tasted her beautifully decorated cut-outs. The almond-flavored frosting made them irresistible.
Now every year we frost the cookies after they cool and then, as Fred Claus says, “sprinkle the doodads.”
We ooh and ahh over the traditional and unique designs. There are red and green stockings, Viking vs. Packers Christmas trees, and the unplanned Picasso-esque Santa with a single, cinnamon red-hot eye where the ear should be.
All the colors and shapes add an element of fun to the best part…eating!
Making Time for Deeper Meaning and Awe
This year we pared back our Christmas preparations since we’re not hosting any big holiday gatherings…but cut-out cookies still made the “cut” for the must-haves list.
Last night, feeling less rushed, I began noticing more cookie-making details:
- The flour’s fine texture as I coated the rolling pin.
- The sweet scent of butter and almond each time I broke off a section to rollout.
- The way the dough surrendered under the weight of the rolling pin and again as the shapes were pressed into the buttery mixture.
- The contrast of the colorless dough and the red rolling mat.
- The formed but flexible shapes as I lifted them onto the baking sheet.
As I placed the pan of cookies into the oven, I sensed the uncertainty of how the shapes would respond to the oven’s heat.
Would they hold their shape or expand into unrecognizable blobs?
This uncertainty felt familiar.
It’s not unlike how we cut out our goals each day with visions of how they will look once full-baked and frosted. Red, green, white. Inviting, beautiful…delicious! But what if they flop? What if they morph into something we didn’t expect or even want?
The good news is there is a part two for both cut-out cookies and goals. We can turn them into something sweet, beautiful and satisfying because we started with a foundation of purpose and vision.
And when you look for the AWE in the simple, humble beginnings of a goal or a dream, when you “sense in small things the beginning of infinite significance,” you cannot help but find delight in the outcome.
For in awe, there is a divine purpose…even in simple cut-out cookies.
Can you find awe in your holiday visions? Will you seek awe in your everyday goals?
In the end, it doesn’t really matter if you decorate your cookies before or after you bake them. Cookies, like dreams, start flexible and ready to be tested by heat. But when you seek awe from the beginning, the outcome is always sweet and beautiful.
May you find AWE in the simple and divine gifts each day brings.
