Recently, I decided to make one of my mother’s most famous recipes: Apricot Campfire Pies.  I’ve made many of her recipes, but this one has been somewhat of a sacred cow in my mind; not to be touched or messed with.  Through the years, I’ve thought of making it, and I would always talk myself out of it because, you know, the disappointment of not making it as well as she did would be a real letdown. She was known as a great baker and a wonderful party planner.  While I, on the other hand, can barely cook the basics.

While working on the different steps in the recipe, I began to wish I had asked her for more details about how she did each step: How long do I need to mix the dough? Could it be done with a mixer or just by hand?  What exactly is the dough supposed to look like when it is ready to roll out? How did you get the edges to look so perfect when you pinched the edges together?

As I was going through this list of questions, I asked God why I had waited so long to try to make this delectable dessert, one of my all-time favorites.  I found it interesting what He showed me about my walk with Him through this endeavor.  I never had much interest in cooking, but in the recesses of my mind, I somehow thought I’d magically be able to cook like her someday.  I never took the time, energy, and focus for cooking that was required to do what she did, but I still had that expectation that I would be able to do it . . . just because I was her daughter.

What I saw when making those campfire pies was that I loved to eat them.  I thought it would be nice to make them, but I did not have the conviction that I could make them well because I never committed to learning how.  I was always on the outside observing but not intentionally learning each step of the process to create what she did through years of learning and practice.   Therefore, I had never attempted to make them, because I was not confident in the process.

Then He showed me that that’s been my view of Christianity.  I like it, I acknowledge it, and I expect to reap all the benefits promised in the Bible without devoting time, energy, and prayer to build a relationship with God Himself.  I expect to be righteous when it is handy but not give up anything of the flesh.  In other words, I never try to walk away from the carnal man and walk in the spiritual man by linking my spirit to His.

For me, Christianity is the choice I made that kept me out of hell and gave me admission into a society of other good people who want to participate in the benefits of following God, with no effort made to study and learn what being a follower of Christ entails.  This is such a dangerous practice.  It inoculates us against the truth of the Word and checks the box in our mind that we got it done, but it does not encourage us to move from the flesh to the spirit.  It tells us that we are good and can stay where we are, because “we are saved.”  That is not what God’s Word teaches us.  He said in 2 Timothy 2:15 to, “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”

When I was asking all those questions about how Mama made the pies, I began to wonder why I didn’t ask Him similar questions.  What does it look like to live life as a disciple?  Would you, God, help me perform my daily tasks and teach me to do them more efficiently?  What does a better way of doing tasks look like?  If asking my mother for cooking advice seemed like a good idea, surely asking God for daily living advice is a good idea.

That seems so simple and obvious, but somehow, I don’t always seek relationship consistently.  There’s the, “Help me God.  I’m in a mess.”  I’ve used that one a lot! Or there’s the big looming business question.  I ask a big, broad question as I approach the deal, but I don’t get specific enough to give Him the opportunity to speak specifics to me.  Somehow, daily conversational questions are the difficult ones that I do not seem to ask enough of, just like the questions I did not ask my mother when I had the opportunity.  Did I think it was magic to relate to God just as I thought with learning to cook?

I am working on asking more specific questions and asking God how He sees my daily tasks.  I’m trying to picture Him as a good friend that I can air out what’s going through my head but also ask specific questions.  Relationships share the good and the bad together, but they keep their eye on a common goal.  With Christ, we continue to focus on God and His principles.

No friend wants to only have questions and pleas for help, so I try to always begin my conversations with praise and adoration and thanks for who He is and what He gives me daily.  I pray for those around me next, and then I ask questions for where I need answers or direction.

The pies turned out as well as could be expected, but they did not display expert artistry like Mama could do.  I will have to learn to make them through memories of watching her instead of having her direct help and practice.  But I can have Christ’s direct help if I will submit to Him daily.  But I have to make the decision to listen, learn, and pay attention to where He is leading, followed by deliberate changes in my actions.

– Written by Gigi

Gigi has shared her mom’s recipe for Campfire Pies.

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