Baking is my love language. There’s something about melding and mixing butter, eggs, vanilla, letting it bake and fill the home with those comfy smells. It’s downright therapeutic. 

There’s a common instruction in baking, “Sift the dry ingredients together.” I abhor this step. It feels like something extra that wastes time between creating and consuming. Turns out it’s pretty essential to the final outcome, though. Sifting creates a fluffiness. It creates a harmony of ingredients, allowing each one to play its role perfectly. 

Have you ever felt like you were being sifted? 

You know, like when the circumstances in your life are punk rocking your daily rhythm. And like it just keeps happening. Maybe you have even thought, “I didn’t think I needed to learn any more patience…or humility…or perspective…or develop anymore character.” Yet here you find yourself with more “fails” than triumphs, wondering what this sifting is really all about. Let’s get down to the winning, doggone it!

Remember the sifting….It’s essential. It allows each part to play its role perfectly. It creates harmony.

This sifting season does the same, Friend. …when we let it. 

A few weeks ago, I was honored (that feels like an understatement) to receive an award amongst the female business community. Afterward, during a quiet drive time, I was overcome with gratitude for the sifting seasons of my life. 

Hot tears burning my cheeks, I thanked God for the doubts, the no’s, the not-yet’s, the delays, the “fails”, the bumps and bruises, the questioning. Do you want to know why? Because all of those negatives prepared me to receive that award with zero inkling that I was “all that and a bag of chips.” 

A mountaintop moment can allow pride to squeeze through and crack the surface, destroying relationships and people. 

Sifting removes pride, Friend. Sifting uses that mountain top to enhance those around you, allowing the beautiful aroma of their gifts, talents, skills–who they are–to permeate the atmosphere. 

So, here’s to the next batch of cookies and to the goodness that your sifting creates.