My Father-in-law had a birthday on Saturday and we zipped down to Texas to celebrate with him. If you have been reading this blog since the beginning and read through the “Easy as Pie” post, you remember that he only likes two kinds of pie: Hot and Cold. So for this birthday, we made a couple of pies and headed south. One crust contained instructions to pre-bake the crust and the other did not. However, I really don’t like it when the non-pre-baked crust is gummy in the middle so I pre-baked both of the crusts. Take a look at the picture and see what happened. They both slipped down into the pie pan a little, but this one was much worse than the other. Why? Because it wasn’t supposed to be pre-baked. The pie tastes just as good, but sure wasn’t very pretty.

Did we enjoy the pie? Sure we did. We ate every bite and enjoyed it. But it would have been so much better if the crust had been right. If the crust was right, the pie wouldn’t have caramelized and it wouldn’t have tasted burned on the edges of that half.

My Mother-in-law is the absolute sweetest and when I told her what I had done she responded with enthusiasm, “Those are the best tasting ones!” While her sweet response made me feel better, the pie crust was wrong because I didn’t follow the directions. Life is filled with instances in which we are required to follow directions. Our friend, Joe McKenzie, always says, “Life is simple if you understand that it’s about choices and consequences.” The consequence of free-lancing on my pie crust didn’t make it inedible, it only made it less than it could have been.

When we are given directions, it is always in our best interest to follow them. Don’t kill, don’t want what others have, don’t put anything or anyone before God. Drive within the speed limit, don’t take things that don’t belong to you, and always tell the truth. Pie crust seems so trivial compared to these other “directions,” but it is a very good example of what not following them does in our lives. When we fail to follow even simple directions, our lives are less than they can be.

Is there forgiveness? Of course! God forgives and so do those who love us. Will life still be good? Mostly. But there will always be the memory of the times we failed. I heard someone say once about a teenager who had made a tragic mistake that “It’s a shame that there are hundreds of people who will not know her for the rest of her life – and they will only remember this one tragic fact about her.” I don’t know about you, but I did things as a youth that I now realize were foolish and short-sighted, so this thought stuck with me. I am sure that there are people who don’t know that grew to be a responsible wife, mom, daughter, person. I was respected at work and relied upon to be responsible in that work. But the people who haven’t seen me or known me in all the years since, may still think of me as that silly, thoughtless teen that I was. I remember that silly, thoughtless girl and I regret the immature choices I made.

But this I know. I didn’t remain foolish, silly, or thoughtless. I have grown in my faith and I have grown in wisdom through the years. Most of us have the opportunity to grow old and wise. One of the little bits of wisdom that we can achieve, and if we want our lives to be all they can be, all we have to do is learn to simply follow the directions we are given.

When we don’t follow the rules, the consequences often become opportunities for growth. While I would certainly go back and avoid the immature choices I made as a teen if that option was possible, but if I did, I would not have had the many opportunities for growth that these mistakes have given me. Those early life mistakes also afford me the chance to understand the choices of others. When I think of my own failures it allows me to give grace when others make choices that they may one day regret because I know what it feels like. As I grow older I’m trying to understand more and judge less. I don’t get it right every time, but God is changing me from the inside and I am thankful that He has allowed me the chance to learn from the mistakes I made before. None of us are as mature as we will be one day. Let’s give each other grace often and generously.