SPIRITUAL CAKE BAKING

Another pretty day that started out cool, but became as nice as anyone could ask for.  I didn't get a lot done this day because I am lazy.  I will try to capture a little ambition tomorrow, put a leash on it and put it to work.  The yard needs to be mowed again.  This will make the fourth time of mowing in the funny month of March.  I was hoping to get by with mowing every other week, but the grass is too green and busy growing every day.

I took a loaf of bread out to the next door dog.  I thought she would "share" it with her chocolate Lab buddy, but she scarfed it all down herself.  Piggy dog, but she likes me and I hope to keep her on friendly terms.  (By the way, the bread was bad, lest you think I am wasteful.)

I will get  the a/c fixed on my van on Wed.  When "the other guys" fixed the heater last fall, they un-fixed the air.  I think they let all the freon out; on purpose or by accident, I don't know.  I do know that they have not been honest with me in the past and maybe this was a make work scheme where I would have to bring the van back in. They did it before when the van was new, telling me that it needed new plugs, wires and a new computer.  I really don't like those "other guys."

So...have you been saved?  I hear a lot of people saying that they have been saved on TV and in person.  Is being saved a one time event?  After you have been "saved" can you go back to being who and what you are or may be?  I have heard and seen that as well.  It's just a little like some peoples concept of confession.  Confess on Saturday and then raise hell all week.  For confession to viable a person needs to be truly sorry for what they may have done or said, or their lifestyle.  Then not do it again or try to avoid what they needed to confess.

I just read a neat quote and I am sure not everyone will agree with it, but I like it.

"Catholicism recognizes that salvation is a process: we are saved, being, saved, and will be saved, but God  alone knows and will judge based on His criteria of justice.  We can have the assurance of salvation, but not the certainty that He(God) has, due to  our own human weakness, ignorance and frailty."

I thought that to be a pretty neat summation of salvation; put better than I ever could.  It is kind of like baking a cake.  If you leave out one essential ingredient or another, the cake will fall flat, or be unpalatable.  The frosting on top is nice, but it is supported by the cake.  So...how is your cake baking?

Will it be as good tomorrow or next week, as it was today?  Sometimes we get caught up in the fervor of the moment, swept by the surge, noise and force of the incoming tides, only to be pulled back out into the deep waters.  We all (almost all unless you might happen to be a saint) have our epiphanies of spirituality, but the proof of salvation is in the test of time, words and actions.  I can shout it from the rooftops, "I am saved!"  But, am I?  Are you?  Only God knows the answer and it is something to deeply consider.

+++

FOR GOD HAS NOT

APPOINTED US 

TO WRATH,

BUT TO OBTAIN

SALVATION

BY OUR LORD

JESUS CHRIST,

WHO DIED FOR US

THAT WHETHER

WE WAKE OR SLEEP,

WE SHOULD

LIVE TOGETHER

WITH HIM.

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1 Thessalonians 5:9-10

Am I boring you to death here?  Well, you will find life in salvation.

END