Saturday 23 August 2008

Hide and Seek



"One day Rabbi Barukh's grandson Yehiel was playing hide and seek with another boy. He hid himself well and waited for his playmate to find him. After twenty minutes, he peeked out of his secret hiding place, saw no one, and pulled his head back inside. After waiting a very long time, he came out of his hiding place, but the other boy was nowhere to be seen. Then Yehiel realized that his playmate had not looked for him from the very beginning. Crying, he ran to his grandfather and complained of his faithless friend. Tears brimmed in Rabbi Barukh's eyes as he realized . . . God says the same thing: 'Nobody wants to seek me.'"
~Brother David Steindl-Rast, retold by Brennan Manning

What a wonderful little story, and a beautiful illustration of what we see going on around us in the world today. We live in a largely secular and faithless society. Men place faith in themselves and in worldly things and possessions, rather in the Great Creator Himself. The evidence is all around us, and you don't have to look very far to see the fruits of it . . . an increase in crime of all sorts, children turning away from their parents and indeed against their parents, the increasingly frequent breakdown of home and family due to divorce, increasing disrespect for others, a pervading selfishness, wars and rumours of wars . . . etc. (to name but a few.)



There was a time, and not that very long ago either, that we might have been considered to be a Christian Country, as would have the United States and Canada. Political correctness has overtaken us to the point now though, where we no longer want to be seen as such. We prefer to be known as a melting pot of various cultures and religions. You don't see that in the Islamic nations. They embrace their faith and are proud to be known as such, and, as a result, they are growing from strength to strength.

A lot of people will tell you that they are Christians, but their actions belie their words. They go to church three times in their lives . . . christenings, weddings and funerals, and the doors of most churches rarely see their shadows pass through them at any other time.

A lot of people will tell you . . . "I don't believe in organized religion." What they are really saying is . . . "I don't want to join any church or speak out for my beliefs because, if I did, I might have to recognize the things that I am doing that are wrong or sinful, and then have to make changes in my life right now that I am not ready or willing to make."

A lot of people see faith and religion as crutches or something that will stifle their creativity and joy and freedom . . . little do they know that it has the exact opposite effect, and that it is empowering and life enriching, life changing and not for the worse, but for the better.

A lot of people are afraid to offend others by embracing their faith and living it . . . but in the end, they end up betraying themselves and commit the greatest offence of all . . .



Oh how God's heart must ache when He looks down at us. Like the loving father that He is, He gave us everything we needed to make ourselves happy and to bring joy into our lives and into the lives of others. He gave us the ability to choose for ourselves and the opportunity to reach and to grow beyond that which we know. He has afforded us with the blessings of being able to reach out to others in love and sharing and compassion. He gave us a Saviour to help save us from ourselves . . . and . . . most people don't want to know . . . He is hiding in the cupboard but most of us can't be bothered to seek Him out . . . 'tis nothing new, this was all prophesied a number of years ago . . .

"But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God; holding to a form of Godliness, although they have denied its power; always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth." ~2Timothy 3:1-5,7

"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord." ~Matthew 23: 37


Probably won't make me very popular this morning, but sometimes we have words that lay on our hearts, that just beg to be said and I will always speak from my heart, even if people don't always want to read what I have to say . . .

Oh, I have a delightful cookie to share with you this morning. I love jammy dodgers. I love jam anything. What is it about jam that just makes baked goods taste better??? Yes, I even love peanut butter and jam sandwiches, a fact that Todd cannot understand. He won't even try it . . . just curls up his nose in disgust and makes disparaging comments about how weird our North American tastes are. (This coming from a man who eats marmite and loves it, need I say more! haha) I think you'll love these cookies. Todd does, and so do I!



*Not Quite Jammy Dodgers*
Makes 20-24

These lovely shortbread like biscuits have a wonderful light texture and basically just melt in your mouth. Deliciously crisp with a tasty dab of jam in the middle, these are what the British call moreish. You cannot eat just one. I dare you to try!


90g icing sugar
185g plain flour
60g corn flour (corn starch)
30g ground almonds
250g butter, cut into cubes
½ tsp almond extract
Icing Sugar for dusting
Jam such as strawberry or raspberry

Pre-heat the oven to 180*C/350*F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set it aside.
Sift the icing sugar, flour and corn flour into a large bowl. Add the ground almonds and give it a good stir. Drop in the butter. Rub the butter into the dry mixture with your fingertips until there are no visible lumps of butter.

Stir in the almond essence. Turn the mixture out onto a lightly floured board and knead it a few times to form a smooth dough.

Divide the dough into 24 equal pieces and roll each piece into a ball. (about an inch and a half in diameter) Using a 3 inch smooth edged cutter place the cutter on top of the parchment paper lined baking sheet. Drop one of the balls inside and push it down to fill the ring, flattening the top slightly with your fingertips. Repeat with the remaining dough balls, placing them about 2 inches apart. You will not be able to fit all of them on one sheet, so will have to do this in two batches.

Bake for 8 to 12 minutes until they are light golden in colour. Remove them from the oven and immediately tamp down an indentation in the middle of each biscuit to hold the jam. I use the tip of a wooden spoon and make an indentation about ½ inch in diameter.

Let the biscuits cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet before removing them to a wire rack to finish cooling completely.

When completely cool, dust the tops with icing sugar and place a dab of jam in the centre indentations. Simply wonderful!

17 comments:

  1. Good morning to you Marie! I have been contemplating your post about faith -- I agree that God must sometimes look down in sadness at some of the things that go on in the world today. I think people get so wrapped up in their every day lives that they don't see God's hand at work. If they would look around and listen -- they would see miracles every day and realize that God KNOWS them and cares for them.

    You are a very wise woman - thank you for your words. Have a great day!

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  2. Beautiful post....sadly true ...thought provoking as always.
    Our USA money states "In God We Trust".... our pledge says "One nation under God" ..in court we must swear to tell the truth "so help me God"... how ironic that we can't acknowledge God in any other way in our schools or government offices. It is ridiculous that people have sued cities because they have the 10 commandments or the golden rule in public gov. buildings....and they have won in court. The majority of Americans are good, God fearing people but the few who are not seem to out rule the majority .

    I don't understand. I agree with you that in many cases I think God is sadly waiting for us to seek Him.... but we don't care enough to take the time to do so.

    Still today there are too many who have "No room" for Him in their inns because they must go with the flow and be politically correct.

    I hope that I will never be one of them. Thanks for the reminder.

    Have a great day. Hugs, Lura

    p.s. the cookies look great

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  3. Hi, Marie! I love how you always speak from the heart--you must always do! :o) Very thoughtful post today...and so well expressed. I feel that to deny one's faith, deny living it to the full, is to deny our ownselves, our own hearts and most importantly that of Spirit. We do a disservice to ourselves, the world and Spirit...Spirit is with us all the time, there's no point in waiting...we should rejoice and live joyfully now!! And rejoice that you bake us lovely cookies...LOL! These look sooo good!! Happy weekend, dear friend ((BIG HUGS))

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  4. You speak the words of my heart Marie. I see so many people when I'm doing my hospital visiting who claim no church, no denomination, no faith and who say, "Oh I believe in God." But you don't see it in their actions which have resulted in their hospital visit. My heart aches for them. blessings, marlene

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  5. Oh how pleased the Lord is with you today for sharing your love of Him and your wisdom with us. It is so amazing how we truly are blessed when we include God in our day, seek for and find all the blessings he gives us. I shall spend more time today thinking of your words, they are a blessing.

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  6. You are doing what you can - and that is bringing light into this world.

    You reminded me of what our Rabbi says when people say they don't attend services because they don't like "organized religion." He tells them "we aren't that organized."

    The cookies look scrumptious!

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  7. Absolutely wonderful post Marie, Im with you. Our counry is in most a "christian country" many caholics and other christian religions, but we have too many jewish and I have many friends of all, many times I think in a universal religion, but sometimes are many intolerant people.
    Im proud my Mom is a catholic but my dad is agnostic, and from Spain my grand ma Catholic and my Grand dad coming from England was Anglican Church , so all live with love and peace, but is not the reality I know.
    We have heart for all and Good love all their sons!! Lovely post.
    And I love this read of Matthew 23:37, and make me sad too when I read. Hugs!!!

    hey lovelies cookies!!!! how ever!
    (I will mail you later)
    Gloria

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  8. I think people are slow to remember God when life is going well. I remember right after 9-11 here in the U.S. God was on everyone's mind. We prayed more fervently, we talked more openly about needing His blessings... even on the news!! Now that we are "fine" people go back to a "never mind, we're ok" mentality. So sad.

    If I didn't have a Sabbath day to refill my spiritual tank and partake of the Sacrament I would be completely lost and worn out the rest of the week. It is a day of rest for my soul. God knew how busy our lives would be- that's why He commanded us to keep the Sabbath day holy. It is to honor Him- but also I think it is a day for us to recharge and focus on what's most important in life!

    Just my two cents!

    Love ya Marie! It takes a strong person to tell it like it is! Thank you! smile!

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  9. They look good Marie!
    Sorry I've not been about this week - my blog post explains all!

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  10. Thought provoking Marie...& how! I sit back often & think of how fast the moral fibre of society is disintegrating. Materialism is our greatest downfall...but with a few good people, we can make a difference- however big or small.
    On a yummy note...those cookies look delicious. was trying to grab a couple off the screen...xoxoxo Deeba

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  11. amen sistah! :) i love that you just laid it all out there. more people need to do that. every word you said was so true and i agree COMPLETELY!

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  12. I just thought I'd drop a post and say that I really liked your motto on your home page about dreams. It was a really neat saying! So true! Lura just got me started on this blogging think and I really like it. :)
    -Chelsea

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  13. I've never had jammy dodgers, but they look wonderful! I'm so glad we were able to chat this morning. Thanks for making me feel better!

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  14. Unpopular or not, I totally agree with your post. We need to seek God now more than ever! Cookies are indeed moreish! Much love - Raquel XO

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  15. Thank you for sweet and touching words today. I think Heavenly Father must feel like all of his parents, sometimes disgusted and other times proud. I love the way you share the gospel! I wish you could share some of those jam cookies, too.:)

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  16. Thank you for sweet and touching words today. I think Heavenly Father must feel like all of his parents, sometimes disgusted and other times proud. I love the way you share the gospel! I wish you could share some of those jam cookies, too.:)

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  17. You are such an inspiration to many including myself. Good for you for "standing for something" I appreciate your words and they do touch home.

    Now about those cookies wellll all I can say is I can hardly wait for the cookbook and I want to print these up as you write them so I can run downstairs to my kitchen to try the recipe Ahhh take care love to you. cyndi

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