Pinterest Fail

“Easy gluten-free treats for kids”. I typed that into my google bar because store-bought gluten-free cupcakes cost a small fortune. And I am a terrible baker. So, when my youngest needed birthday treats to share with his class earlier this week, I was hoping Google or Pinterest or some smart person in internet land could save the day.

Now, we’ve been at this gluten-free thing for 14 years, both my oldest and my youngest have Celiac Disease. And, I’ve tried pretty much every trick in the book for class treats. No one knew what gluten was 14 years ago, thus I became an expert at making things up. But now, I am tired and life moves too fast … and I really just want things to be easy.

So when  “marshmallow pops” appeared on my phone screen, I heard the kitchen angels singing about how simple this would be. Chocolate covered marshmallows dipped in sprinkles. I’d have 25 made in no time. Pinterest made it look precisely … perfect.

Well.

Two hours later, I was covered in chocolate and sprinkles and ready to give that Pinterest post-er a piece of my mind.

The skewers were too long, the chocolate too drippy, the marshmallows fell off the sticks, the sprinkles rolled off the chocolate and all the things stuck together. It was a disaster and I lost my mind.

All I wanted was easy and simple. I do not have time for messy and unpredictable. Pinterest perfection with the snap of my fingers was my goal.

And I failed.

Maybe you can relate? Ever found yourself holding the pieces of what you thought would be a simple thing and realizing you had done it all wrong? This happens to me quite often; not only in the kitchen but with my people and in my work.

This world we live in constantly shows us what perfection should look like. It filters, curates and snaps only the good and the lovely. And maybe your day, maybe your moments all look like that? But mine? Well, mine do not.

Mine look like drippy chocolate, floors covered in sprinkles, crying kids, fighting boys, unkind words, and broken promises. And when I take the pieces of my actual day and hold them up next to this perfect image, all I see is the wrong. It makes my perfection loving heart want to run and hide from all the failure. I have no patience for it.

“Patience asks us to live the moment to the fullest, to be completely present … to taste the here and now, to be where we are. When we are impatient, we try to get away from where we are. We behave as if the real thing will happen tomorrow, later, somewhere else. Let’s be patient and trust that the treasure we seek is hidden in the ground on which we stand.” (Henri Nouwen).

I read this quote a hundred times when I stumble upon it in a book and I wonder if Nouwen ever tried to make marshmallow pops? His words ring so true, but I find them hard to live.

Perfectionism can make us impatient. It can steal our vision and leave us blind to the work God is doing in our moments. It makes us idol worshippers and grace missers.

“Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs” (Jonah 2:8).

All in the name of perfect treats.

It’s always the smallest things that tip us over, isn’t it? I never intend to care so much about marshmallow pops or folded clothes or dishes in the sink. I want to care for the hearts entrusted to me, for the souls of those I interact with, for the way Jesus moves with me through my day.

But.

Then I find myself ranting like a mad woman over a failed Pinterest plan and certain that God must think I am a hopeless case.

So, if you’ve ever lost your last piece of sanity over muddy footprints, burned dinner, stained clothes or dessert disasters, here’s what God reminded me as I scrubbed chocolate off the kitchen table.

Jesus came for the failures. He came for the days that go wrong, for the impatient perfection seekers and the ones of us at the end of our rope. Take a deep breath my Pinterest loving friends, here’s the main thing: Jesus did not come to witness our perfection.

I have come that you may have life and have it to the full. (John 10:10)

He came to be with us because he is perfection. “The treasure that we seek is hidden in the ground on which we stand.” A full life is a life that accepts the fact that the ground on which we stand may be sticky and covered with sprinkles … but Jesus’ presence in it makes it holy nonetheless.

You see, Jesus promises that no matter how many times we fail at producing perfect, he will never leave us or forsake us. And that’s a promise we can hold onto even when our greatest Pinterest plans crumble to the ground.P.S. Chocolate, marshmallows, and sprinkles? They taste amazing no matter how imperfect they look. And maybe that’s precisely the point.