Burnt dinner rolls

My family will tell you that I have a trade mark when it comes to dinner rolls...I always over cook them! No matter how easy it would be to set the timer on these things, instead I always tell someone "Hey, the dinner rolls are in the oven, don't let me forget" but we do, or should I say, I do. My husband just this week asked me to stop buying them since we cannot enjoy them (he said this with humor). Sad to say, it's become funny and expected.

Sometimes my heart feels like these burnt dinner rolls-well done, hardened and crusty. Not that I want it too. Can I blame it on hormones? Probably not. Christ modeled a perfect love for us so why is it so hard to love others perfectly? A measure of being filled with the Holy Spirit is love. Isn't that what we want-to live under the guide of the Holy Spirit?

But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives:

love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!
Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires

of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there.

Since we are living by the Spirit,

let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives.

~Galatians 5: 22-25 (NLT)

We are called to love despite how we are treated, to love despite the unfairness one may perceive in a situation, and to love because we have been commanded to love:

Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God

with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’

This is the first and greatest commandment.

A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’

~Matthew 22:37-39 (NLT)

The thing about burnt dinner rolls is that you really can't salvage them. You can disguise them with creams, sauces or gravy but the bitter taste is still there. The same is true of a hardened, bitter heart! However, unlike the burnt dinner rolls, the heart can be renewed, softened and transformed through the grace, forgiveness, and love of our Creator!

But I trust in your unfailing love.

I will rejoice because you have rescued me.

I will sing to the Lord because he is good to me.

~Psalms 13:5-6 (NIV)

A heart may not feel like loving. The only way that will change is by meditation on God's unfailing love (PS. 48:9).

May we live in the perfect love of Christ today and always!
In His graces~Pamela