A few months ago Brett decided to switch to a paleo based diet to overcome a stomach that had decided to painfully rebel.  The diet, while restrictive of many of his favorite foods, has quelled his stomach rebellion.  The limitations to such a diet are many, he doesn’t eat grains or sugar.  So, when Brett’s birthday loomed on the horizon, I looked for a viable option to his favorite yellow cake with chocolate frosting.

I had made several outstanding smoothie recipes from a new paleo cookbook I bought and was thrilled to see  a recipe for yellow birthday cake.  When the big day loomed just around the corner I opened the cookbook, wrote down the ingredients and went shopping.  When I returned home, I called Aspen to come help me bake the cake.  She was thrilled. Baking a birthday cake for daddy, at that moment, was the most exciting thing ever.

We measured, poured, blended and stirred.  After the last ingredient had been stirred in, I was pleased to see that it looked and even smelled like real yellow birthday cake.   I poured it into the baking pan with high hopes.  I was just as thrilled as Aspen to be making a cake for Brett that he could eat and hopefully enjoy!

The cake cooled on the counter overnight.   I called Aspen into the kitchen again and she helped make the chocolate frosting.  Next she swirled it and onto the cake, then since it was so much fun, she swirled it some more just because she could.  Everyone sat down to a plate of cake and tentatively took a first bite.  All our high hopes crumbled.  It may have looked and smelled like real yellow birthday cake, but it did not tickle our taste-buds with the familiar taste of store-bought cake mix.

Too many times I try to make a my own version of God’s original plan for my happiness.   I see God’s version of happiness and I want it.   But, for various reasons I decide if I just tweak it a little, my plan will be better.  It will fit my circumstances better.  In fact, my plan can look on the outside very similar to God’s plan for me.  But, after living with my own version of happiness, I realize that it just doesn’t taste the same as original version.

O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusts in Him.  Psalm 34:8

And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, This is the way, walk you in it, when you turn to the right hand, and when you turn to the left.  Isaiah 30:21

Then Nebuchadnezzar said, “Praise be to the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, who has sent his angel and rescued his servants! They trusted in him and defied the king’s command and were willing to give up their lives rather than serve or worship any god except their own God.  Daniel 3:28