When things fall apart

I thought it would be fun to have Easter lunch at our house this year for a few reasons:  We want to have KJ's parents over more often, it would be a smaller crowd since my sister-in-law and her family have moved (We miss them so!), and James could go down for a nap in his own bed.  I tried to keep things simple by making things that could be prepared the day before so that Sunday morning before church and coming home afterwards wouldn't be stressful.  Saturday morning I started with a cake.  I found this idea on the internet of making four thin layers by combining ingredients with one box of cake mix, coloring each layer a different pastel, and cutting it in the shape of an egg.  What a great idea, right?


But while I thought the cake was pretty, cake really isn't my absolute favorite dessert, so I hadn't completely decided on what to make when I went to the store with the kids on Thursday.   As a result, I didn't have all the ingredients written on my list when I decided,  "I think I'll make that cake."  So I bought a box of cake mix and some frosting, but when I went to make the cake on Saturday morning, I realized I had no pudding.  I did, however, have another box of yellow cake mix in the pantry, so I thought, "I'll just follow the recipe and make two cakes and make my four layers that way."  I thought I was being clever, and this probably would have worked for a more experienced cake baker, but while my colors were lovely, my cake was super-tall.

I eventually rearranged the layers so there wasn't such a big gap.

I've never learned how to stack this many layers!

KJ advised me not to attempt cutting them into an egg shape, and while I knew he was right, of course I couldn't resist.  Plus, I really wanted to see what the color on the inside of the cakes looked like.  So, praying for assistance, I cut into it.

Aren't the colors pretty?

The egg shape turned out better than I expected, but after I took it apart to frost it, it felt so unstable, like it might topple over.  I decided to go with a three-layer cake instead.  It was also a very moist cake, which is good on taste but hard to frost.

Do you see that small crack on the top layer?  

That crack bodes ill for my cake.

Here is what ended up happening:

It reminds me the Stone Table after Aslan's resurrection.

While undoubtedly tasting delicious, this cake would not be a beautiful and triumphant end to our Easter lunch.  At this point, I had been about four hours in the kitchen and felt tired and a little discouraged.  I went to our room and lay down on the bed.  KJ came in and said, "You know, this can just make you look forward to that day when everything you do will work out perfectly."  

"And what day might that be?" I asked, even though I knew there was only one option where that would happen. 

"On the New Earth.  Because here, things just fall apart."

Yes, things do fall apart here, but Christ is making all things new, and just like this fallen earth will be destroyed and renewed into a perfect habitation for a redeemed people and their holy God, as I lay there thinking I came up with a way to renew and redeem my fallen apart cake.

Ta-da!  Trifle!

And I don't think anyone missed the cake when they tasted

 this delicious, creamy goodness.