The summer after I graduated high school, a boy that I really liked drowned. I was only seventeen, and somehow in my young heart I thought he was “the one.” For quite some time I did not know how I would continue to live. Truly, it was devastating.
Prep for A Raspberry Peach Cobbler
I needed to find comfort from someone in authority, so I went to the Baptist church up the street (where my little sister was in Bible school) and asked to speak with the minister. When I told him what had happened, the first question he asked me was “Did he accept Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior?” I just looked at him and stammered, “Well, he was Catholic” and then he said, “Unless he had accepted Jesus, he is in Hell.” This was not helping… and so I left quickly and decided to call the minister from my own church. When I reached him, I told him I needed to talk to someone and he told me to come right away.
Gluten Free Strawberry Rhubarb Cobbler
When I arrived, he invited me into the house where I’d babysat for his kids many times. After I told him what had happened, he shared some thoughts on the Presbyterian view of the afterlife (Hell was not emphasized) and after a while I felt better and got up to leave. If only he had not added these parting words: “Karen, you had me worried. I thought you were going to say you were pregnant.” This was not what I needed to hear from the man who’d been my pastor for ten years.
A Cobbler to Celebrate a Legal Marriage!
Two different men of faith, and with both I was left feeling completely lost and alone. No one suggested counseling – or even prayer – at that time, which is too bad because I know I could have used it. What did help me way back then was something that still sustains me to this day. Baking. I began to bake every day. I brought cakes and cookies and all kinds of goodies to all of our friends, relatives, and neighbors. Death was something out of my control, but baking—I could handle that.
A Chocolate Cream Pie in honor of my friend’s Dad’s passing
Perhaps this is why in the last few months, I have baked many, many pies. Baking grounds me, makes me feel better, and when I am baking, I am putting all of my heart into the process. It doesn’t hurt that it brings smiles to the folks that receive the fruits of my labor. I think perhaps I have found a delicious way for God to work through me… and that feels like the best comfort of all.
A Four Berry Pie
“Where love is, there God is also.” Mahatma Gandi
Pie a Day Give Away 