Chocolate Chip Cookies and Sufficiency

I am a chocoholic, but not just any old chocoholic: I am a very discriminating one. For example, chocolate ice cream? Take it or leave it. Chocolate chip cookies? Take, every time. Chocolate chip cookies are my passion.

Over the years I have gathered several magnificent chocolate chip cookie recipes. Believe me, there are some gems out there. Nevertheless, my CCC receptors are highly sensitized to new ones and I am constantly on the prowl.

Funny thing, however, about chocolate-chip cookies and me: one is never enough. And since they are never found under the “Healthy Food” section of books or blogs, that is not a good thing. Sometimes--OK, frequently--I get a hankering for one, and I make a batch thinking, "I'll be good; I only need one." And one is never sufficient. Ever. I don't know if I've ever eaten ONLY ONE fresh-from-the-oven chocolate chip cookie in my life. Ever.

If I could have only one dessert the rest of my life, I would beg it be warm chocolate chip cookies.

One of these is never sufficient.

I would be much healthier (and lighter) if I could convince myself that one cookie is enough. One is sufficient. 

Let’s talk about “sufficient.” To suffice means “to be enough; to be equal to the end proposed.” Now let’s talk about “sufficient” in a much more important arena than chocolate chip cookies.

As members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we believe that God sent us to earth without him in order to learn, grow and prove ourselves worthy of returning to his presence. However, even though we are separated from him, God, like every great parent, still wants to be part of our lives, wants to guide and direct and help us as appropriate. He sends all sorts of help our direction: scriptures, prophets, Christ’s original church, saintly people, and personal inspiration, to name a few helps. 

Sometimes in this testing period we sometimes think we need more, and sometimes we’re correct: we need more help, more wisdom, more strength, more resources.  But sometimes, even though we want more, we have, in fact, been given enough.

Sufficient.

The “end proposed” by our Heavenly Father is us back with him, tried, tested, improved and worthy. He offers to help us along the way, but sometimes the best thing he can do is help us understand that we have been given sufficient for our needs. 

When we learn that lesson, we have grown and become, in one aspect of our lives, more like him. Which is “the end proposed.”

--Miriam

Who has a two-year supply of chocolate chips in her storage room

Finding Truth: Scientific and Spiritual

In my professional life, I use the scientific method to determine (as best I can) what is truth or fact. This means an initial question is posed, a hypothesis formed, experimentation is done to gather data or evidence, and the data either supports or does not support the hypothesis. If enough data supports the hypothesis, it is deemed to be correct, true, or factual; although, that is always liable to change based on additional data.

As a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we challenged people we taught to do an "experiment" in order to determine what was true. While some elements of this search for truth followed the scientific method, it largely did not. The main reason for this is because the "data" gathered wasn't something tangible or quantifiable. Paul teaches about this in 1 Corinthians 2:10-11:

"But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, except he has the Spirit of God."

We understand the things of God differently than we do the things of man, and therefor our search for "evidence" is different. As a missionary I loved to use this verse from James to invite people to find out the truth for themselves:

"If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him." James 1:5

I liked using this verse for a few reasons: it removed the pressure from me of having to "convince" someone that what I was saying was true; it allowed the listener to relax from feeling like I was trying to convince them; and it allowed truth to come from God, through His Holy Spirit to the listener's spirit. And because God cannot lie (Enos 1:6), does not change (Mormon 9:9), and is no respecter of persons (Acts 10:34-35), His answers would not only be consistent, they would be true. And no additional "data" could ever disprove them.

Forrest
-Who really hopes he is remembering the scientific method correctly.

Moments of Recognition

You know those moments in life where you suddenly realize something about yourself that had either never occurred to you before--or that you were unconsciously refusing to acknowledge? Sometimes it is small things like realizing that the reason I didn't like croutons is because I had never tried one before. (They just look so dry and crusty and brown.) Or seeing a picture of myself after 3 months of working at a desk, not exercising regularly, and eating wheat thins by the box and realizing that I was a bit on the plump side...so that's why my jeans didn't fit all of a sudden.

But I've had bigger moments of recognition that have forced me to see "things as they really are" (Jacob 4:13.) In the following passage from Charles Dickens'  novel Our Mutual Friend, Mr. Podsnap is throwing a little dinner party and becomes ruffled by some unwanted comments by one of his guests:

In the mean time a stray personage of a meek demeanour, who had
wandered to the hearthrug and got among the heads of tribes
assembled there in conference with Mr Podsnap, eliminated Mr
Podsnap's flush and flourish by a highly unpolite remark; no less
than a reference to the circumstance that some half-dozen people
had lately died in the streets, of starvation. It was clearly ill-timed
after dinner. It was not adapted to the cheek of the young person.
It was not in good taste.

'I don't believe it,' said Mr Podsnap, putting it behind him.

The meek man was afraid we must take it as proved, because there
were the Inquests and the Registrar's returns.

'Then it was their own fault,' said Mr Podsnap.

Veneering and other elders of tribes commended this way out of it.
At once a short cut and a broad road.

The man of meek demeanour intimated that truly it would seem
from the facts, as if starvation had been forced upon the culprits in
question--as if, in their wretched manner, they had made their
weak protests against it--as if they would have taken the liberty of
staving it off if they could--as if they would rather not have been
starved upon the whole, if perfectly agreeable to all parties.

'There is not,' said Mr Podsnap, flushing angrily, 'there is not a
country in the world, sir, where so noble a provision is made for
the poor as in this country.'

The meek man was quite willing to concede that, but perhaps it
rendered the matter even worse, as showing that there must be
something appallingly wrong somewhere.

Chapter 11 "Podsnappery", Our Mutual Friend, Charles Dickens

I know that example is a bit exaggerated (Dickens is good at that), but I like how it shows Mr. Podsnap's complete refusal to admit there is a problem that needs to be dealt with. I feel like throughout my life, I have had moments when I suddenly recognized some "Podsnappery" in myself. They are uncomfortable moments. Really, really uncomfortable. In these moments, the Spirit has shown me times when I have been deceitful. Times when I have judged a situation or person without seeing the whole picture. Times when I thought I understood a principle, but really only had a superficial comprehension of it. I began to dread moments like this because I felt like the more "moments of recognition" I had, the worse person I was.

And then I came across this quote:

"There can be no repentance without recognition of wrong. Whether by provocation, introspection, or wrenching remembrance, denial must be dissolved [. . .] the first rays of recognition help us begin to see 'things as they really are' (Jacob 4:13), including distinguishing between the motes and beams. Recognition is a sacred moment."

Neal A. Maxwell, "Repentance," Ensign, Nov. 1991, pg. 30, emphasis added

I know this might seem really obvious to everyone else, but it was an epiphany to me. Recognition is NECESSARY! Recognition is a sacred moment. Recognition is the first step to improving ourselves and the world around us. To be able to fix a problem or flaw or whatever it may be, you first have to recognize that it is there. Seriously, this concept has changed my life. I know that change is possible. I know that I can become a better person and a more aware person than I am today. Good books and people help me see this. The gospel of Jesus Christ helps me do this.

-Elin
Who now loves croutons.